Illusion is MY Domain
by Oromarth123
Summary: After Naruto beat the hell out of Mizuki, an alternative choice of teams are made up in the Academy. With a new genin named Kaidamaru Urukari coming out of nowhere, Team 7 and its course in history is going to be changed drastically. Classic NaruHina.
1. Prologue A Troublesome Existence

**Hello there everyone, I'm really happy to present you my new fanfiction you know. I'm a newbie, no suprises there, but I'll try to make this up to you by trying to update as much as possible. BELIEVE IT!**

**P.S = That Kishimoto genius owns this whole manga series and anime called Naruto...there! U happy now? xD**

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"Wow, so it is official that Konoha's entire kunoichi youthness are a bunch of fangirls" a new genin named Kaidamaru Urukari said as he walked by the academy corridors to meet a certain scarred chuunin named Iruka.

How come did these all happen then?

FLASHBACK NO JUTSU!

_"Sasuke-kuuuuun!!!" cried a bunch of girls( well, a horde of them actually) whilst they were chasing the number one rookie of the year and the sorriest emo that five nations had ever seen - The Great, Almighty, Superb and TEME Sasuke Uchiha._

_Well, at least that's what Kaidamaru was informed by Shikamaru._

_He and Shikamaru went way back. He was his best - and only - friend apparently, not just because they both liked lying out on the spring sun, napping around, watching clouds, which by the way, Kaidamaru always insisted watching the sparkles and little rainbows that thousand waterfalls of Konohagakure no Sato posessed within its borders._

_No, no it was more than that._

_Kaidumaru was always...well, cyriptic, to be exact. He had no other ninja skills than Genjutsu, hell, he didn't even carry a kunai pouch, which he stated the reason was "too pointy and sharp to carry upon his fragile body" (NO HE'S NOT GAY!!!)_

_As many of the ninjas were taught, or somehow got the knowledge by experience, working on Genjutsu always strained one's mind to work even harder, to increase imagination and creativity._

_So, when Kaidumaru was found, broken and BLINDED by Kumo ninjas when he was mistaken for a certain Hyuuga, he was only 5 years old. Bleeding, instead of crying, he pleaded for help to the closest person he was standing to._

_By chance, or call it, a strange twist of fate, Shikaku was the closest one to that fragile soul, so there._

_He was raised, along with Shikamaru, and by the protection of Nara clan, to try to become a normal person, to overcome the neglecting effects of his blindness, by only one way possible - becoming a Shinobi._

_Shikaku and Yoshino discovered his mental "gift", let's say, when he was training along with Shikamaru, a year later when that misfortunate event occured._

_They were instructed to mold chakra, as the first step to chakra control and an understandement upon ninja basics. They were children, after all._

_Whilst Shikamaru, even if it was very little, succeeded in molding chakra as his chakra level spiked up a little, Kaidamaru couldn't do it, even when he concentrated harder and harder._

_"Aww c'mon, why is it not working? C'mon, C'MON!..." he suddenly stopped making the seal, furious at his first failure._

_Well, not exactly._

_His head jerked up when he felt a surge of energy rushing, channeling from his brain, to his eyes. His clouded, light-green eyes opened up wide, when suddenly, he felt a sense of relaxation and power._

_Shikaku sensed this unusual occurance, and stood up from where he was, and went near Kaidamaru, only to see that..._

_He was molding chakra...WITHOUT any hand seals._

_Shikaku was VERY suprised, to be exact. Only a very few ninjas like Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, Jiraiya the Gama-Sennin and Itachi Uchiha could do techniques that required chakra without any handseals to shape or control it._

_He knew that this child would go through a very secluded time of training, probably not joining the usual routine taught at the Academy._

_He also didn't know a lot of things, like he was going to be trained by a certain Itachi Uchiha, as he was a master of Genjutsu's that required doujutsu ability, then Kurenai Yuuhi, when Itachi massacred his entire clan._

_Anywho, the child went through the same procedure as Shikaku had imagined. After a brief talk with the council, along with the support of Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi union, the Hyuuga clan, because they felt indebted to this child, the Aburame clan, because they respected his stoic and philosophic attitude, and with the objection of the Inuzuka clan, because they didn't thought a blind ninja was any good at all, and of course, the favourite of everyone, the Uchiha clan, just because Fugaku didn't want this child to be a hindrance to his clan if the kid went angry at them. the child was instructed to train with Itachi Uchiha (Anbu soldier, not captain yet). _

_He wasn't taught any jutsus at all, for in his case, he couldn't understand and do any hand seals._

_Instead, whilst Itachi taught him in the ways of chakra and increasing his sense of hearing and smelling, he taught himself in the ways of jutsu._

_Itachi even proclaimed once that, if the kid was stronger than him, he could beat all of the Uchiha clan, included him._

_So, when Itachi went exile after his genocide of the Uchiha clan, Kaidamaru was furious with him. He always considered Itachi like an older brother and his best sensei, but he never got to understand why he betrayed his clan like that._

_At that accursed night, Kaidamaru smelled the blood sprayed on his uniform, and heard the screams of the dead Uchiha's. When he felt Itachi's singature closing by to his, he got up from his usual training grounds to feel what he was going to say._

_"We won't be seeing each other as much as usual, Kaidamaru. You probably know what had happened." Itachi said, his usual emotionless façade up on his face._

_"As if I ever really saw you, sensei." Kaidamaru breathed out with a low chuckle. "I really shouldn't be asking you why, since I'm used to learn everything by myself, but still, knowing you, there is more to it that you have done today." He suddenly said, with a serious tone._

_"..." Itachi was suprised, yet still, not suprised. The 10 year old kid had learnt his way of selecting words from his example. That's why Kaidamaru saw him as a big brother; he always managed to learn from him, willingly, and mutually._

_"I'm not going to say the same things to you, Kaidamaru, for you are more aware and judicious than my foolish little brother is, or ever will be. So, when I say that I don't want you to chase me, I hope you'd know what I mean..." Itachi was suddenly stopped._

_"...that there is more than underneath the underneath? Yeah, I understand if you want to run away from me. Darn my inability" Kaidamaru joked. He was told that his Ninja abilities would be disasterous to any Uchiha whom fought him._

_Itachi put on one of his rare smiles. He always knew that Kaidamaru would remain his little brother, if not by blood. He was a rare breed indeed. "Goodbye, onii-san. Truth be told, I will miss you...tripping on stones on the road." Itachi joked back(OMGZ!!!)_

_Then with a flicker of leaves, he was gone..._

_Two years later, along with the same kind of training Kaidamaru had gotten from a hot-sounding kunoichi named Yuuhi Kurenai, and games of shoji with Shikamaru that SOMEHOW always got tied in a stalemate, the blind kid managed to grow up as a genin by the help of the Hokage after a very untasteful event, that involving a genjutsu which created a HOKAGE'S TOWER loads of illusionary paperwork which even Hokage couldn't dispel.  
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_Kaidamaru was becoming more and more adept on mind-distorting genjutsus, unlike Kurenai, which rather was specialized in offensive Genjutsu. He was getting help from the Yamanaka clan about that, for their clan abilities depended upon that. And since Inoichi lost that one bet which Shikaku won by bringing on three Brothel woman at his house and actually managing to hide them from Yoshino for an entire bleedin' day, Inoichi was debted to afford Shikaku's a year of tea service (yeah, he's a tea freak. Thanks to my brother for that one), or helping Kaidamaru improve in his innate talents._

_Needless to say, Inoichi chose to help Kaidamaru._

_Ino was getting more and more fond of Sasuke each day, and this got Inoichi nervous. He didn't want his girl to become another soldier of the endless army of fangirls of Sasuke Uchiha. Kaidamaru was aware of this, and after a training session, he approached Inoichi._

_" Excuse me, Inoichi-sama, but I can sense your anger, your sadness that involves your daughter. This hinders my concentration, since I don't want one of the greatest Genjutsu user in the world and a great man to be sorrowful over such a trivial matter. If you wish, you can let it all out on me." he suddenly said, then he turned his back on him and slowly started walking back to Nara household._

_"WTF???" Inoichi was thinking, and even then he was scared if Kaidamaru could read his mind. He held Kaidamaru by shoulder, and turned his face on his. "How come did you know, Kaidamaru?" he said with a low chuckle. "Sometimes I'm scared of you, you know. At least soften it a bit" he said._

_"But I am but a blind kid, Inoichi-sama." he smiled up, his blind gaze never leaving Inoichi's blue eyes. "How can I scare YOU?" he questioned. At that moment, Ino came in._

_"Aww maan, I couldn't find Sasuke-kun after that moment that Forehead girl went after him. Oh well, I'll find a wa...hey Dad." Ino said, ignorant of Kaidamaru._

_"Ino, where have you been this whole time? It's past curfew for two hours already!" he said, angry at the matter that Ino obviously didn't gave up on Sasuke._

_"I'm sorry, dad, I'll be more careful next time...hey, what does that blind boy doing around here Dad? He's looking at me strangely..." Ino came close to his Dad._

_Before Inoichi could answer, Kaidamaru took up words "Nice choice of words, hime, I am blind, but that way I look at you, well, maybe it's because I have this curiosity about fangirls and their stupid obsessions with useless guys." he said with a smile._

_"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT!" Ino shouted up, clearly upset that with his father around, he couldn't just beat him to a bloody pulp, wtih the help of the UNHOLY POWER OF EMO-FANGIRLS (insert spooky music here)._

_"Calm down Ino" Inoichi said to his daughter, with a serious expression. "His name is Kaidamaru, and I'm suprised that you didn't know him. Shikamaru is like his brother, right Kai...damaru?" Inoichi and Ino looked around, only to see that Kiadamaru was out of sight._

_His white, waist long hair was winding up with the warm spring breeze when Kaidamaru was on his way to the Nara household. He had to learn more about this Sasuke._

_Shikamaru was not happy to hear, the least, to hear, or even talk about the last Uchiha. He didn't even like the boy when he entered the academy, and his moody attitude was no better at all. Ninjas were supposed to have decency and reason to deal with the changes in life. Needless to say, Sasuke didn't._

_He told Kaidamaru all about him, even though it was too troublesome, about his current position in the Academy, the exact number of fangirls his fan club had which, by the way, that knowledge was really difficult to learn as their speed of growth were unmatched (lolz), and most suprising of all, his relations with Itachi Uchiha._

_Kaidamaru was shocked, not about the knowledge, but the matter that Itachi didn't call him "foolish little brother", but to Sasuke. "That teme didn't deserve someone as revered and great as Itachi for a brother anyway" Kaidamaru thought, depending upon all the things he learned about Sasuke._

_And then, the day came at last that he was ready to enter the genin teams, and begin his career as a ninja. Shikamaru and Kaidamaru excanged one more shoji match, which most suprisingly, the winner was Kaidamaru. He eventually passed in strategical depths of training by beating a lazy-super-genius bum in a match of shoji._

_"He must be at least chuunin level in thinking about war strategies by now. Maybe he'll defeat me after all" Shikaku thought before walking up to two new genin with their Konoha hitai-ates worn, one by shoulder and one by forehead._

_"Well, well. The years to come will be very interesting with you two together shaping the webs of destiny in Konoha. I know it's just too troublesome to have a final talk with you, so to make the long story short, good luck boys." Shikaku ruffled their hair._

_"Troublesome" was all Shikamaru could say._

_"Will Ino be there too?" Kaidamaru asked, all too suddenly._

_Shikaku raised an eyebrow, holding laughter inside " Why do you ask?" he asked._

_Kaidamaru suddenly sulked. "Aw great, that woman is just far too much..."_

_"Troublesome, right?" Shikamaru asked._

_"Indeed, brother, indeed." Kaidamaru sighed._

_Along with sending their regards, the two went off at the academy._

PHEW... FLASHBACK NO JUTSU...KAI!!!

He had just seen Sasuke being chased by that horrendous mob of fangirls, mostly being threatened about being glomped down and squeezed cute to death. "I'm glad that I'm not Sasuke" he thought...when at last, he heard some shouting from a class that involved a lot of usage of the words "BELIEVE IT!", monstrous munching of chips, peppered potato flavoured, probably, buzzing of a hive lots of bugs, fangirls screaming about Sasuke as usual, and a real - life banshee that threw some punches(hard ones) to a guy named Naruto apparently.

Shikamaru just sighed and said "That's our classroom. Let's go in."

Kaidamaru had a hysterical look on his face, making him more like a ghost, along with his pale skin and white hair "You've got to be kiddin' me you lazy genius..." he muttered when he was entering the classroom.

END OF PROLOGUE - (insert ending theme here)

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**YAAYZ! I actually did it :):):):) I can't believe I had it in me. There you go, it's just the prologue, but still, it's actually not boring at all xD**

**I'm sorry if you guys thought I'd enter at the team selection, but hey, I had to get rid of this introduction my OOC deserved.**

**Thanks for your future reviews to come. If you guys have any bright ideas, or wishes that concern the Zabuza saga, well I'm all ears xD**

**Signing off, The Enlightened Florist...  
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	2. Sightless Eye

**There and back again, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry though for not being able to post any chapters, for I've been waiting for the endless and abyssal curse that is known as the school to end.**

**But to make this up to you, fellow humans, I'm thinking of making this chapter a "Father's Day" special. Hope you like it xD**

**Oh yeah, one more thing...HEY SASUKE-TEME! SQUEAL!**

**(Sasuke in Chains) All right damn you!...This Enlightened Dobe doesn't own Naruto...I do!**

**(El Gasps from everywhere, Yours truly sweatdrops) No you don't Sasuke, the bleedin' genius known as Masashi Kishimoto owns it...omgzz...**

**There u goez :)  
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Murmuring went quietly, and for a moment everyone felt a cold chill behind their ears as Shikamaru and... a strange boy with waist long, wavy white hair with a dirty bandana closing his eyes came inside the classroom.

Iruka was pretty suprised, to be exact. He DID receive orders from Hokage about a new special student joining in the common Genin squad selection. He was told that this boy had quite the special way of dealing with chakra his own, and he was trained with Shikaku, Inoichi, and a certain raven haired elder Uchiha that villagers and ninjas alike were afraid to say his name aloud.

But he didn't know that this kid was blind. Hell, he didn't even look like a kid, he was more like an old man; he was 1.78 meter long and pretty thin, 53 kg's maybe.

He wore a very dark cloak with a two-headed raven symbol on his back, along with long, navy blue trousers that ended with a pair of shinobi boots. His hands were bandaged, though it showed no signs of wounds that most taijutsu users commonly had them for the reason obvious, not to mention the black-edged wakizashi on his waist, strapped with a belt. He had a mysterious aura around him (what a suprise...), and a warm smile on his face.

Iruka couldn't understand how could a blind person become a ninja, even on the contrary, this kid looked so fragile that he could be blown off with a strong wind. He thought there was more to this kid than meets the eye.

Iruka took a few steps forward and said: "Alright everyone, it seems I have an explanation to do. Since your murmuring won't stop, I'll have to make this mystery clear." He looked at Kaidamaru.

Kaidamaru nodded. Iruka contiued: "This is Kaidamaru Urukari. Adopted to the Nara Clan and brother-except-in-blood with Shikamaru. By the orders from Hokage, he shall participate in the Genin Team Selections alongside with you."

Sasuke raised his hand: "Iruka-sensei, how can someone blind as him participate in these exams, yet alone train in the ways of Shinobi?" he asked smugly.

Kaidamaru turned to Iruka, his sightless gaze never leaving him. "Iruka-donno, how can someone as gay as Sasuke posess this endless horde of fangirls? Surely your knowledge upon Konoha History can explain that."

For a moment, everyone felt a massive amount of killing intent on the air. It was almost as if the very air they breathe possessed high amounts of electrical shock.

Naruto was almost killing himself not to laugh. This kid...he was just friggin' awesome to mock Sasuke like that. But, knowing the hyperactive little cheeky bastard, he started a laughing fit that ended up with him beaten badly into a bloody pulp by the...

...MONSTROUS POWER OF UCHIHA FANGIRLS!WOOOT!

Shikamaru sweatdropped, saying: "Troublesome...why do you always have to be this troublesome, onii-san?"

Iruka had a vein popped up in his forehead, but his inner self showed a 10 out of 10 slogan unto Kaidamaru, congratulating him for his boldness.

Sasuke...was _pissed,_ beyond words, but also stunned, not being able to find any words to retailate the blind-teme. This kid had the guts to go against an Uchiha! An elite, the genius born in Konoha with total awesomeness! How dare he did something like that? He would pay for this insolence!

Kaidamaru, for his misfortune, was caught in a HUGE circle of, approximately 300 fangirs (hey there Spartans!), whom heard what he said, even from the farthest parts of Konoha, and came to crucify this heathen. They were lead by their two great leaders, and former friends, current enemies that were Sakura Haruno, and Ino Yamanaka.

" You are charged guilty for calling Sasuke-kun a gay..."Ino said.

"And your punishment shall be swift, for it will be..."Sakura contiued, preparing two pairs of scissors at the while.

"CASTRATION!" they both exclaimed, attacking the poor guy with pairs of scissors that seemed like their usual weapon (it's just plain creepy dude!).

Kaidamaru stood calm. He focused his chakra, preparing the newest jutsu which he just found thanks to Ino's folly some days ago.

_FLASHBACK NO JUTSU!_

_Kaidamaru was practicing with his chakra. For the usual ninjas, this would be an easy task, molding chakra wth handseals was a pretty easy job, after all._

_Not for the blind, though._

_Probably in the times of Shodaime and Nidaime, they never had any blind ninjas available. Even Sandaime and Yondaime's recourds didn't help him, so he was working pretty hard to create his way._

_If it weren't for the ranting of Ino, not suprisingly though._

_She was standing before the practicing room of Yamanaka clan, constantly talking to herself whether she was beautiful for Sasuke-KUN(oh how he hated thet suffix), or if her hair was long enough._

_Kaidamaru was getting pretty strained while working in molding chakra, but Ino just made it worse. So he turned to her, his sightless eyes penetrating hers with a dose of boredom._

_"Ino-chan, could you please shut the hell up? I can't concentrate." he truthfully exclaimed._

_"What did you say you blind dobe? Dare to tell me that again?"_

_"Why do I have this fate that puts me through with annoying fangirls all the time?" he cried inwardly. Then, the idea struck him._

_"Fate, you are an awesome bloody frickin' genius!" he cheered inwardly while making a victory dance. Then he smiled and turned to her:_

_"What if I helped you about that matter? That, and you don't call me a dobe, is that a deal?"_

_Ino raised an eyebrow, still angry though "What kind of a deal, what are you talking about?"_

_Kaidamaru grinned inwardly, he knew he had her in his clutches now:_

_"This kind of a deal, I'll create a copy of Sasuke, his character and physical attributes completely same, and you can ask him what is lacking with you. However, I'll need you to explain his character and physics to me, so I can picture him before my mind."_

_Ino had three seconds before executing the "fan girl glomp" to Kaidamaru. After that horrible experience, Ino agreed, explaining him the exact (well maybe a bit divine version, due to the obvious reasons) of Sasuke._

_Kaidamaru focused his chakra, part by part, file by file, creating the chakrafied copy of his face facing the afternoon sun, he opened his closed eyes and exclaimed: "Uraomote Bunshin no Jutsu!"..._

_...and from a poof of smoke, an exact copy of Sasuke came out._

_The reaction was so disturbing, even Kaidamaru could feel the popping hearts from Ino's eyes. He pitied for the clone which was left for Ino's mercy._

_"Very promising, indeed...such a display of Genjutsu at such a young age and disadvantage...you are truly promising, Kaidamaru." Hiruzen Sarutobi said, looking into what happened from his crystal ball._

_FLASHBACK NO JUTSU...KAI!_

"This is going to be quite difficult, considering the amount of fangirls, it's actually excruciatingly ruthless...though I'd better thank to Ino-chan later anyway." Kaidamaru thought inwardly.

"Tajuu Uraomote Bunshin no Jutsu!" he exclaimed, facing the sun again, to get his chakra activated. That took Iruka's interest in a scary way.

"He focuses his chakra with the help of an outer energy source?" he thought deeply.

The next hour was "angelic" for the fan girls, to be honest. After that day, they would be life-long friends of Kaidamaru, and Fangirls would break into two houses, one lead by Ino, and the other by Sakura.

Sasuke would come out of his hiding place, the men WC(o...m...g...), and being the arrogant ass he is, only thank to Kaidamaru and walk away, his emo arua never wavering.

Naruto would become great friends with Kaidamaru, and he would learn a great way to improve his Oiroke no Jutsu, eventually evolving it into Harem no Jutsu.

Konoha would be safe from the terror of the fangirls because of their bickering among the two separate houses.

Kaidamaru smriked triumphantly, shaking from exhaustion, however, he maintained his balance and sat near Naruto, with his stamina almost gone.

Naruto took him in a friendly embrace, saying: "Dude, you are a bleedin' genius! I have a similar technique like that but it only works on men."

Kaidamaru asked, smiling contently: "It has something to do with women, doesn't it Naruto-san?"

Naruto asked, suprised: "Good guess, how come did you come up with it?"

Kaidamaru said: "I heard the blood,coming from their nose, dripping on the floor whenever Shikaku-sama and Inoichi-sama read something called Icha Icha Paradise. It has something to do with mature content. Do you know what it is?"

Naruto dumbfoundedly said: "I had no idea something like that existed until you said me just now. Though my source was different."

Iruka came at that moment, holding a cup of tea to Kaidamaru's hand. "If you are feeling well, Kaidamaru-kun, I'd like to ask you a few questions after I declared the teams you will be with."

Kaidamaru nodded, while he drank the tea "Bottoms Up".

Naruto had wide eyes: "Ittai Nani? How did you drink it like that?"

Shikamaru answered first: "Dad taught him that. He's a troublesome tea addict."

Naruto sweatdropped: "Wow, Shikamaru, I really didn't need to learn that."

Shikamaru stated boringly: "Troublesome..."

Iruka came back with a piece of paper on his hand: "Alright everyone, since Sasuke came back from hiding, I'm going to explain you which team you are in and who will be your Sensei, so listen up carefully..."

"Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Your Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

"Team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Your Sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

"Team 10 will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino. Your Sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

Kaidamaru raised a hand: "Umm Iruka-donno, wasn't I supposed to be put in a team?"

Iruka came near him, and said: "Hokage commanded me so too, but eventually he decided to put you in a Special Genin squad, consisting of a teacher and a student."

Kaidamaru raised an eyebrow: "And who, might I ask, will be this unfortunate soul, Iruka-donno?"

Iruka gave a hearty laugh: "Oh, I think it will be YOU who's unlucky, Kaidamaru. It's your girlfriend after all, or so she told me."

If people didn't see the obvious shaking fit the boy just got, they would have thought he was dead, due to the inhuman amount of paleness that is combined with the scare he just got and his normal paleness, and the blue veins he got visually seen upon his thin skin go dry. What could be so scary than fangirls of Sasuke? Oh...it is his own fangirl(insert evil laugh and music here).

"It is...Mitarashi Anko." Iruka breathed out as he saw the kid fainting, both from the chakra exhaustion and the scare he just got.

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**BOOOOO! Lolz I can't believe I just did that. That should have been scary. So what now?**

**Here's a few spoilers for ya:**

**Kaidamaru meets a certain lavender eyed beauty and gets this strange feeling in his stomach and heart.**

**Iruka and Anko meets, and Iruka talks with Anko about Kaidamaru's unorthodox way of drawing chakra.**

**First signs of NaruHina coming up soon...promise, Dattebayo!**

**Here is the meanings of the two new jutsu that I own:**

**Uraomote Bunshin no Jutsu(Opposite Clone Jutsu): The user creates the exact copy of anyone he/she pictures on his/her mind. It requires detailed knowledge about that person, it takes a moderate deal of chakra, and clone's mood changes, depending on the user's.**

**Tajuu Uraomote Bunshin no Jutsu: The multi version of the one above. While the single one creates only a single clone, this one can go up to a thousand clones, considering the user is a jinchuuriki.**

**I really can use some reviews here, it's nice to hear from you guys anyway xD**

**Signing off, The Enlightened Florist  
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	3. The Blind Genin

**Here I am again folks...it's nice to see you all...**

**Thanks a lots o' bunch for all the reviews I've got so far...it's really relieving to see there ain't any flames at all xD**

**The answers will reveal themselves as the story goes on, so hold your horses :)**

**So, without any delay, here's my second chapter!**

**Hey, Kyuubi no Kitsune, wanna disclaim something?**

**Kyuubi: Yeah, this Ningen Baka(mortal fool) doesn't own Naruto, but I do!**

**Me: O rly...are you female?**

**Kyuubi: Yes, I mean, No! DAMNIT YOU TRICKED ME!**

**Me: Haha! Still got my disgusting sense of humour. So there you go, fellow readers =)  
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Kaidamaru was pissed beyond words...anyone who could see behind his mouth would've thought his teeth should have broken by now because of all the gritting.

"Hokage my &$$!!" was all he was able to muster beneth his mindscape...along with a few VERY selective choices of swearing vocabulary that would put Tayuya to shame.

He was scared for a reason too. He may be blind and fragile, but there was one part of his body that he valued far too much for anyone to "castrate" it.

"Long story short, it was a normal afternoon which I had just gone to a dango shop (oh how I love that). Just as I were going out, I had bumped into this crazy woman. She turned to me, shouting if I was blind or something, then covered me with something...slippery. She told me it was snakes, her summons, grinning maniacly at the same time. Suffice to say, nii-san, I had 3 very troublesome hours just trying to get rid of her. Though I gotta admit, it was good training." Kaidamaru finished explaining his quite...marginal story to Shikamaru as they descended down the stairs.

As the brothers went down at the Konoha streets, they encountered the Konoha rookies, celebrating their new promotion at Ichiraku's ramen.

"Hey Shika, care to join us?" Kiba asked.

"Hey there youngsters, sure why not. C'mon Kaidamaru, you oughta knock yourself out, you've been working hard." Shikamaru said.

"If you say so nii-san...care to introduce me?" Kaidamaru said, yawningly.

"Sure, the one who called me out is Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka clan. He's adept at Ninken Taijutsu and has a ninken called Akamaru on top of his head. " Shikamaru told.

"Oh really...let me see that." Kaidamaru said jokingly, while recognizing the sweat and urine mixed smell of Kiba and Akamaru.

"Eww...that's so totally right...man, you should wash your dog once for a while." Kaidamaru said, bitter from the terrible smell. Everyone laughed at this comment.

"Who are you anyway? We never thought Shikamaru had any brothers, and we surely didn't saw you in academy." Kiba asked accusingly, curious by the fact of this "mysterious stranger" giving the Uchiha the word-dueling of the year.

"Weeeell..." Kaidamaru said, grinning and stretching his body in an unusual way, almost like a drunk "Apart from the introduction Iruka-donno just gave you today, I'm just a blind guy who's adept at genjutsu alone. Though that doesn't mean you have to make stupid faces behind me, Naruto." everyone turned around to see Naruto making funny faces at Kaidamaru. That got him a beautiful punch from Sakura, which had hurt (a lot...poor Naruto).

"As for the part which includes me getting my eye-sockets plucked out by a Kumo-nin, well that includes a certain Hyuuga girl being kidnapped." Kaidamaru slowly hung his head down. The memory of what happened, still fresh in his mind...

_FLASHBACK NO JUTSU!_

_Urukari Kaidamaru was a 4 year old kid when the war between The Land of Lightning and The Land of Fire ended. Along with a lot of families, his respective family, though not from any clan, was composed of 5 jounins, and a chuunin, who was his bigger brother, Raiguri. The poor kid had suffered a lot from that war, as his family was slaughtered and "burned to crisp" by Kumo nins, and thanks to the inhumanious tolerance of Ninja Clans towards civilian ninjas, he got no relief from anyone, well except the Sandaime, since he was always kind to people around him, even to a "demon kid" which his family always warned him not to talk with._

_From what he heard, that demon had yellow hair with deceiving blue eyes that turned red whenever he wished, and wore monstrous orange jumpsuit going along with trousers of the same color. By some strange twist of fate though, he never saw that demon._

_He was very shy when he was little, not even participating in the common games played at the so-many playgrounds of the esteemed Konohagakure no Sato, which was well renowned from its so-called tolerance and humility towards humans. "Humans, well, they showed the exact opposite to demons", so Kaidamaru thought, while he was walking across the Hyuuga Clan Compound, unaware of where he was going, fragile as a leaf, and carefree as a leaf. There was a huge festival going through for 3 days, since the peace treaty had been signed, but he felt no remorse, no joy. Hell, he seldom ate food, it was evening, and he was standing only with a bowl of yogurt-flavoured rice. He smiled with the memory of his brother's favourite food. _

_He was his idol, to be perspective. They had a lot of arguements with his father, and his brother would emerge victorious, well, as long as the topic stood firmly at ninja politics and weapon mastery. He was an adept at Kenjutsu, to a level that got Gekko Hayate(16) as his teacher. Along with the fact that being a chuunin at age 12, well, that was a nice accomplishment in the always claimed that, whatever he learnt, he learnt from him._

_It was almost midnight, and Kaidamaru thought of returning his home. So much memory, though, would let him have no rest, as well as the cruel will of Fate had set upon another set of plans for this oh-so little kid._

_Just as Kaidamaru was going to turn his back to the Hyuuga compound, he heard a jolt, almost electrical chirping, breaking down a wall. He looked there, only to see an old Kumo-nin, running, almost escaping, with a little girl on his shoulders._

_He might have been a kid, hell a 4-year-old kid, but the classic tales of heroism was going to pay Kaidamaru harshly, not to forget the ever-sounding voice of hatred in his brain, all pointed to whomever lived in The Land of Lightning._

_He drew out the wakizashi that his brother had given him as a present for his 4th birthday, just before the war ignited, despite the warnings of his mother and father. He was just a beginner at Kenjutsu, even so, thanks to his brother's secret sessions of training, he knew how to use it without cutting himself. With unleashing a scream, which was the reason Hiashi Hyuuga was alarmed, he attacked to the Kumo-nin._

_The fight was really short. Despice his encumberance, the Kumo-nin quickly disarmed the kid, punching him along to throw him several feets. Then, in an eyeblink, which was his last, the Kumo-nin took the small blade, and cut out poor Kaidamaru's eyes._

_The agonizing scream ran the Hyuuga blood clod, even Hiashi's, who by the way, arrived at the scene. Being a ninja much more skilled than the Kumo-nin, he gave him his fateful death. The ninja collapsed, blood sprinkling from his neck, mixing with the blood of Kaidamaru's._

_The little child, who was the esteemed, little heir of the Hyuuga Clan, Hinata Hyuuga, awakened after his father caught him. She was completely suprised about the whole commotion; a dead man lying in his pool of blood, a shrilling boy, who's at her age, and a whole main branch of Hyuugas, along with Hiashi-sama, standing to see if she was okay._

_Then, the reality struck her; the screaming boy, who was cryğing blood, instead of tears, had no eyes at his eyesockets. It was truely a gruesome sight to behold. Several Hyuugas gasped, and some juveniles even puked upon seeing such a sight. Being the little heir she was, she was quickly taken to her own private room to go back to sleep. Hiashi stood firmly, gazing upon the sightless boy, thinking about how to repay his debt to the boy who saved the heiress of the powerful ninja clan, the Hyuuga._

_He decided to take him in to the clan, but the elders refused, asking how the kid can be called a Hyuuga, without any eyes to see at all. Then, all of a sudden, the elder Ino-Shika-Cho trio arrived at the scene of murder. Shikaku Nara was the one who would eventually pick up the kid to raise him as a Nara, reasoning that the kid might have planned out to warn the Hyuugaafter all, not planning to kill the Kumo-nin by himself, but calling out the one who may outmatch the nin by posing his call for help as a scream, noting that no kid at his age can posess such high frequencies of soundwaves._

_FLASHBACK NO JUTSU...KAI!_

"...and eventually, I became brothers with Shikamaru nii-san." Kaidamaru finished telling his story, with a small smile creeping out on his façade.

There was an expected silence. Shikamaru knew the story, since his father explained him, calling it "both gruesome and troublesome." The other Rookie Nine, though, were petrified and totally unhappy about hearing such a sappy story. Some were even on the verge of crying, such as Sakura and Ino. Kiba and Chouji had a grim look on their faces, Akamaru was whimpering, Naruto was gritting his teeth with anger, and Sasuke, who was watching them silently from a rooftop, had quite a lot of collections running through his mind.

"Without those eyes, it was hard enough to understand his true nature (since eyes are the mirrors of soul), but now, I can almost see his aura." he thought, along with the memories of a certain massacre still haunting him, disturbingly alike to what Kaidamaru told about his life.

Hinata was on the verge of fainting. Not from Naruto though, no. She was feeling very nervous around this new boy, and she just realized the reason. It was her! The entire fault of a young boy's blindness was hers! She felt so guilty, if she was sure about not fainting, she would have left the scene at the second the story ended.

That didn't stop her from shedding a few tears though.

"Ah what the hell? I didn't tell this story for you to symphatize me with that Emosuke." Kaidamaru called out suddenly. "What happened, happened. Plus, being blind also has its merits" he continued. Sasuke shot him the famous Uchiha eye-glare while Sakura and Ino had erased all signs of sympathy towards the blind genin, replacing it with killer intent. Though that didn't keep from Sakura asking:

"Like what?"

"Well, for example, they say you have a large forehead, Sakura-san. And Ino-chan, you've been called a pig. Not to mention you both said Naruto looks stupid with an orange jumpsuit, and Shikamaru nii-san told me that Emosuke had hair growing out like a chicken's butt. If I saw any of these, then I'd be already blind, due to my eyes burning."

That last word earned him a smack from Sakura and Ino. Everyone laughed as Naruto was shouting something about orange mixed with dattebayo (whatever the hell that meant), and Shikamaru was pale, considering the troublesome fact that Sasuke would chase him too.

After checking out his injuries, Ino hmphed, saying:

"You're the one to talk after Sasuke, do you think you are as cool as him?"

"Well,** I** don't know, **Ino-chan,** do **you?**" Kaidamaru huskily asked to her, his voice lowering down to a tingling sound that made all the girls present very nervous, due to the fact that, Kaidamaru was actually quite handsome, his silver long hair falling from his shoulders, along with his Navy blue coat that resembled Yondaime's cloak, except it had no kanjis, and quite a handful smile that melted down civilan girls.

"I wonder how handsome...uhhh...how he would be if he had his eyes? Were they blue, or green, or what?" both Sakura and Ino thought. However, the answer came out from the one who was the least unexpected.

"Ano...I th..think that y..you look pretty n..nice, Kaidamaru-kun." Hinata said, stuttering a bit less.

Aside from the common fact that Kiba and Naruto had jealousy, and all the others had gaping mouths that went down to the floor, Kaidamaru was mesmerized by the meek sound of the Hyuuga girl. He felt really tense, as if he was trapped somewhere and he couldn't escape without answering. He turned around to feel Hinata's aura.

"So strange, really, fate just has this habit of gambling upon me on the direst of situations, now doesn't it..." Kaidamaru thought.

"Why thank you, Hinata-**chan**, it's really heart-warming to hear such words from one so graceful and beautiful such as yourself." Kaidamaru said out loud, swaying the attention of Kiba, and especially, Naruto.

"It's really saddenning, though, to see that no one here is aware of your beauty and angelic figure." Kaidamaru said poetically, earning hearts popping out of girls again (including Sakura and Ino this time), and anger pouring out of Kiba and Naruto.

"Now wait just a goddamned minute, Kaidamaru! No one said I wasn't aware of Hinata!" Kiba shot out.

"You're the one to talk Kiba! I can't make such fancy words as yourself, Kaidamaru, but I **know **it from a fact that I think Hinata-**chan** is both beautiful and cute, and graceful, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, putting on his foxy smile, looking to Hinata at the same time.

Hinata was stunned, astonished to hear that Naruto really liked was hardly keeping herself together from falling down, just as usual as she did. This was the real deal, her moment of truth.

Kaidamaru grinned inwardly, thinking about how he got Naruto on his trap. Unusually from him, he got up, facing Naruto.

"Oh really, Naruto nii-san, why don't you prove it, so we can all be convinced about your_ secret love?_" Kaidamaru smiled toothily at Naruto.

That earned Kaidamaru, strangely, a gentle pat from Sakura, while she was, literally, laughing her ass of, mumbling about something like "congratulations Kaidamaru" and "about damn time". Kaidamaru sweat-dropped.

Naruto, on the other hand, had on himself, a very red blush, probably at the shade of sour cherry. He daren't look at Hinata, lest he was 'fret he would run away as fast as he could, reasoning in himself that he somehow had developed a nice sharing bond with Hinata, open to the suggestions of being hardened as the time passes, in which we call as "true love", but Naruto being Naruto, didn't realize it. The Kyuubi did, though.

**"Ah, you mortals just sicken me with all this fluffiness (Go Kyuubi!). We Kitsunes just jump straight into the action, which does last after 9 hours of breaking beds." **Kyuubi chuckled pervertedly.

"Shut up, Kitsune no Baka!" Naruto tried his best not to blush, while perverted sceneries flooded his mind, in which eventually caused his late-brought fainting.

Everyone sweat-dropped. To think that it was Hinata who would faint before Naruto, and now, Naruto would faint before Hinata...ell let's just say that at that time, Tsunade also won a lottery.

"Well, that was weird...and new." Sakura said tiredly.

"Aw Akamaru! Did you just wet my hair???" Kiba shouted at Akamaru who was soo very scared.

Shino's eyeglasses fell down, revealing a very handsome pair of black orbs. Unfortunately for him, though, every girl around him was reserved.

_"Poor old me"_ he thought sulkingly.

Chouji choked on his ramen, gaining disgusted glares from friend and foe alike.

Shikamaru just said troublesome, glaring at Kaidamaru.

Ino shook his head, along with Sasuke, calling him Ningen (mortal) dobe (now why would Sasuke say that?)

"Wow, will you look at the time, Shikamaru nii-san, I have to return home to resume my training." Kaidamaru declared, getting out of the bar.

"Troublesome...see you guys later...and Hinata?" Shikamaru called out.

"Y..Yes, Shikamaru-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Would you be kind enough to wake up Naruto, as he always did before to you, when you fainted?" Shikamaru grinned inwardly, though being solemn outwardly.

Hinata turned upright to a tomato-head, understanding how she smelled his scent whenever she would awaken (well, she does have a keen sense of smelling, especially on naruto =)

"S..sure thing, Shikamaru-kun." she stuttered lowly, and turning her head to Naruto, who had a weird smile on his face, possibly due to some **fantastic** dreams including him and Hinata.

_While in the Hokage Tower_

"Hokage-sama, I need to talk with Mitarashi Anko, Tokubetsu Jounin." Iruka asked Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current, and Sandaime(3rd) Hokage, nicknamed as "The Professor", due to the fact that he knew over a thousand jutsu.

A loud crash shattered the window which carefree ninjas like Kakashi and Jiraiya would do...and of course, a certain purple-haired viper beauty, as Iruka would name her.

"Did somebody say my name?" Mitarashi Anko asked cockily, carrying her banner all over the place. "For I will rock you!" she called out, to which was answered by sweatdrops.

_"Was she listening Queen again?"_ Iruka asked inwardly as he closed by Anko. "It's nice to see you, Anko-chan" Iruka said.

"Oooh, but did my Iruka-kun grew a backbone? Or some other bone?" Anko closed by even closer, causing high fever upon Iruka, while she shamelessly flirted with her old teammate.

"Uhh...actually, the matter...was concerning...ohmygod... Kaidamaru" Iruka almost fainted when he saw through what lay beneath the fishnet that Anko wore, and it was a heartstopping sight for men to behold.

"Oh really?" Anko asked incredulously. " What would you want to do with that kid, hmm? Threesome, perhaps?" she whispered the last part to his ear, shivering and chilling Irukas's both blood and bone to ice.

"N..not r..rea...really" Iruka barely managed to speak. "I want to t..tell you his cu...current con..condition as in chakra control" he managed to stop his stuttering, which by the way, Anko suddenly got serious.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Well, first of all, he doesn't use handseals to form and shape chakra, so that's a start." Iruka said quickly, looking into Anko's suprised remark.

"Then how does he perform any jutsus?" she asked, curious about this new...upstart.

"From what I observed, he gathers chakra to his eyes, whih I think, is how he pictures the chakra should be shaped within his mindscape." Iruka explained, turning on his teacher-mode.

"You were always the smart one...you know, sometimes, it turns me on too..." Anko grabbed his arm (ehem!) and pulled him near herself.

"Ehheem...ehuuheeheehm!!" Iruka was really nervous now, if it weren't for Hokage, they would have their way right there, right now.

"Anko!" Sandaime warned the young Tokubetsu Jounin, gathering the attention of two.

"It is common knowledge to most of the ninjas that powerful ninjas such as myself and Yondaime (insert sad smile here) can perform some jutsus without handseals, but this event... well, I've never heard of something like this..." Hokage said, interested at this young ninja.

"Anko, I want you to keep an eye on him. Since he will need to master his chakra control due to this...unexpected turn of events, and to perform any jutsu, I want from you to teach him tree-climbing and water-walking as soon as possible. Apart from that, you can do whatever you wish to him." Sandaime declared.

"Anything?" Anko asked, a sadistic grin forming on her face.

"Aside from sexual harrassment and castration" Sandaime quicly pulled together his mistake, knowing that even he was in danger around this woman. In a way, Sandaime...pitied Kaidamaru.

"Also, Iruka, I want you to keep an eye on Naruto. Aside from the fact that I wasn't pleased when you marked him as the dead last, due to the fact that he made Kage Bunshin, instead of normal Bunshin, I believe he does deserve some special training from someone I know of far too well. None of us had to face a traitor chuunin when we were Academy Students, so to speak." Hokage said harshly, however, that was replaced with a knowing smile, thinking about a certain white-haired pervert, no, SUPER pervert, to be exact.

"It will be as you command, Hokage-sama" Iruka said, aware of his fault, yet willing to repair it.

The next morning, while every team had begun their respective, and dead-boring D-ranked missions, Kaidamaru and Naruto's team were held at one of the Academy rooms, waiting for their senseis.

"Damnit, why is he this much late, 'ttebayo?" Naruto shouted,and when he was about to receive another of the Fangirl Punch, Kaidamaru exclaimed:

"Not for long, for they are already here." he said, while at that moment, two man and one woman entered the classroom. One was silver haired, like Kaidamaru, and wore a mask that covered his mouth, reading Icha Icha Paradise on the way. The other was a tall broad man with waist long spiky white hair, wearing a red sage uniform and a huge scroll strapped at his back. The last one was a purple haired vixen who wore nothing but fishnet shirt and a brown leather miniskirt, and a long trench coat covering her figures.

"Now the silver haired guy and you, I understand they are young, Anko-sensei, but whose is this old and master aura that I sense?" Kaidamaru asked wonderingly.

"That was good of you to ask!! I'm the toad sage of the mount Myokobuzan, I'm the one who babes cry in delight and villians run in fear, for I'm the great toad sage JIRAIYAAAH!" Gama-Sennin Jiraiya declared, mounted on an orange frog with a necklace on its neck.

* * *

**YESS!! The Moment I've been waiting for!!! I've always believed that people shouldn't ridicule the almighty Gama-Sennin Jiraiya in their stories, and I believe that there is much to learn from him!(not about girls=)**

**So, what now? Jiraiya came at such a great tide, bearing hopes of salvation and damnation for Naruto! Hope you liked the small bits of NaruHina goodness that I just made up!**

**I'd like to have you know that, Kaidamaru(my OC) is never going to be the main character here. He won't be stronger than Naruto(which I hope to prove at the Chuunin exams), and he won't be with Hinata, cuz NaruHina is soo awesum, it would be one of the ungforgivable sins to see it not applied in stories.**

**Anywho, I'm gald at the overall reviews. It's nice to see that there are still some people who supports NaruHina =)**

**Finishing up my words, I want to remind you of the ever-enlightening words of the Gama-Sennin:**

**Men aren't meant for happiness.**

**Till next time, The Enlightened Florist, signing off.**

**P.S, pls review :):):)  
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	4. Blind Folded Promise

**Isashiburi ja ne(literally, long time no see), fellas!**

**You know, I love this concept of fanfiction...limitless imagination, indeed, can do anything you want, kill anyone you want, being practically the freakin' god of your own freakin' mind ^_^**

**That said, I'm thinking of arranging teh proper pairings, and leaving the decision up to u guys!...not that I'm that lazy, thank you very much, but you guys get a shot to call 'em boobies to match with (see what I mean? hell yeah...)**

**Following pairings are a given, and will NOT be changed:**

**-NaruHina (my god teh divine luv)**

**-ShikaTema (too much kinkiness overboard)**

**-JirTsu (this pairing incomplete...makes me cry T_T poor Jiraiya-sama...)**

**-ShinoFu (saw this in a beautiful fanfic that I forgot teh name...but still, bug love FTW!)**

**-IruAnko (that, was just the beginning =_=)**

**And as with them other characters (except filler ones, they're like fanfics came true), ask for whatever u guyz wish ^_^**

**Disclaimer: No, Naruto's not owned by me, it is Kishimoto's, as for the Naruto Abridged and Avatar - The Last Airbender Abridged jokes, the respectfully belong to their respective founders which I'm too lazy to find their real namez right now...  
**

**Today's episode brought to you, by Neji's SexyFine SHAMPOO! (now with %60 percent more Neji-ness)**

**Neji:**** Dude, that's AWESOME!...**

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**Chapter Three - The Toad Sage and the Serpent Mistress**

The experience was...bracing, for a moment.

Sakura looked dumbstruck. If this guy was the legendary sannin, one of the greatest ninja of all times and the teacher of the fourth hokage, then she was sorely dissapointed, since the entire showoff looked like a complete, total fiasco.

Sasuke was indulged, to say the least. He knew about the guy, and his almost second-to-none abilities, but his personality showed a little too much "Naruto" on itself. That brought a sore taste on his mouth, and apparently, his pride.

Naruto was...Naruto. To put it bluntly:

"blablabla dattebayo, blablabla wtf is this d00d, blablabla u r so fake'n gay, blablabla" until his cheek got owned by Anko(A/N:...what? that's what would have happened in reality)

Kaidamaru remained silent.

_"Jiraiya the Gama-Sennin, huh? Just what is going on here" _he wondered by himself.

Weell...actually he wasn't given the time of the thought.

Anko Mitarashi...the mere name spoken in Kaidamaru's presence was enough to make him shiver his pinkie long enough to give him an Alzheimer.

And as usual, she recognized the poor guy right away after getting her daily blood sample from Naruto, whose turn now was Kaidamaru's, who was S.o.L.

"Well, well, well...now this is what I've been promised for after all...a poor, blind kid with absolutely no way to defend himself...and a pure blood? Well this just works to enhance the pleasures to come, right, Kai-chan?" Anko approached Kaidamaru, swaying her hips in a predator-like fashion, causing blood-sprays due to the perversion of Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"Please refrain yourself from bloodlust, Anko-san. I'm not really in the mood for training" Kaidamaru tried to brush her off.

Keyword was; tried.

Being the perverted serpent lady she is, Anko caught Kaidamaru in a handlock, preventing him from moving, while at the same time licking his neck to see some kind of maturity reaction from the poor guy. Kakashi and Jiraiya were knocked out cold from the blood loss by now.

"Who says I lust after blood, Kai-chan?" Anko was almost grinding herself to Kaidamaru when Naruto screamed his guts out:

"GET A ROOM YOU PERVERTS, 'TTEBAYO!" was heard all around from Konoha.

* * *

After the incident, the trio and Kaidamaru met with Kakashi, Jiraiya and Anko on the rooftop of the academy for the introductions.

"All right, since we first met each other, it would be proper to introduce each other to ourselves, so we might get to know each other better" Kakashi informed the kids, earning a nod from Anko.

"Hey, wait a minute! What is that perverted sannin going to do with us? I understand Anko will be with Kaidamaru, so what is his purpose?" Naruto loudly asked Kakashi.

"What, you do not enjoy my presence? Oh dear, how the almighty have fallen..." Jiraiya almost sulked before Anko gave him a headbump, knocking the emo out of everybody's favourite Sage. After recovering, Jiraiya spoke:

"I'm here because I just stumbled onto Kakashi while I was trying to give my latest report to the Hokage. We talked a while, and I decided to hang out with him for a while; since he's my most advent follower." Jiraiya smiled at the memory when he saw the heart-shaped eye of Kakashi staring onto his newest edition: Icha Icha BDSM.

"Anyhow, let's begin introducing ourselves. You know, our hobbies, what we like and dislike and our dreams." Kakashi stated, wiping the blood on his nose.

"Wait a minute, sensei. Shouldn't you introduce yourself to us before?" Sakura asked.

"Oh well, that's ok...my name is Hatake Kakashi. What I like and don't like is none of your concern...my hobbies..well, I have a couple of good one...aand I have no intention to tell you about my dream." he finished lamely.

_"The only thing we got to learn was his name"_ Sakura thought with an inner sweat-drop.

"O.K, it's your turn now, pinkie." Kakashi said.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like...(squeal)!...I hate Naruto-baka! My hobbies are...(squeal)! and my dream is...(squeal)!" she said, looking at Sasuke each time she squealed.

"I believe you and Ino should change nicknames, Sakura-san. The way you squeal resembles pigs more." Kaidamaru said with a chuckle. With no delay, that got him a headbump from Sakura, who was seething and said:

"Add Kaidamaru to my hate list, sensei" smoke literally rising out of her nostrils with anger.

_"Total O.F.M(Obsessive Fangirl Madness)...laame" _Anko thought.

_"She may grow up to be a beauty someday, but she won't survive much longer if she doesn't change the attitude"_ Jiraiya thought with a blush.

_"So she is a fangirl after all...I need to knock that out soon"_ Kakashi thought.

"Okay then, it's your turn Broody" Kakashi told to Sasuke.

"Hn, whatever...my name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like a lot of things, and I pretty much hate a lot of things. My hobbies are training and working. And my dream...well, it's more like an ambition. It's to restore my clan, and kill a certain somebody" Sasuke finished with an angst aura hanging around him.

_"Avenger syndrome...that is not healthy and good, and it must be erased"_ was the thoughts of their senseis.

_"OMG Sasuke is sooo coool! SHANNARO!" _Inner Sakura yelled.

"Uchiha Itachi...is Uchiha Itachi the person you were talking about, Sasuke-san" Kaidamaru turned to the dark-haired boy, his gaze almost exsistent on Uchiha's onyx eyes.

"How do you know that name?" Sasuke sneered at the blind boy, almost ready to lose control of his anger.

"You really should take some of your own advice, Sasuke-san. One must keep his allies close, and enemies even closer, right?" Kaidamaru said with an almost non-existent smile.

"Hn...that it is" Sasuke turned with a scowl, satisfied to see another enemy of Itachi's. Maybe...

"Okay then Blondie, it's your turn now." Kakashi interrupted Sasuke's train of thought with a call.

"O.K! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, don't forget that name! I like ramen, the color orange, and Sakura-chan! I dislike the three minute required to make ramen, and Sasuke-teme! My hobbies are training and eating ramen, and my dream is to become Hokage! One which will surpass all others before, so that people will treat me right, like somebody great, 'ttebayo!" Naruto finished with a cheer.

"You forgot to tell one person you liked, Naruto-san." Kaidamaru was grinning wickedly now.

"Huh?" Naruto looked innocently.

"You forgot to tell us all about Hinata-chan, you know. How you two were hanging around later at school with no-one around..." Kaidamaru was interrupted with Naruto and his big-bad red face:

"LIES! ALL LIES! I wouldn't do something like that to Hinata-chan!..." Naruto was going on with his rant while Sasuke (actually) chuckled and Sakura gave a giggle, muttering about "a fool's romance".

"Just admit that you like Hinata-chan, and we'll be okay." Kaidamaru suddenly had a dark aura around him that resembled Yamato's. Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Heh heh...okay okay...I like Hinata-chan too." Naruto gave a pout, mumbling incoherently.

Meanwhile the sensei trio were having uncanny thoughts about the pouting jinchuuriki.

_"Those marks...and those claims...could it really be possible? Minato?"_ Jiraiya tried to hide his suprise by lowering his head, deep into the thinking position.

_"Treat me right, huh? What excatly are you, Uzumaki Naruto...or rather, who are you really?"_ Kakashi thought deeply.

_"He seems to have the guts, but does he have the brain?" _Anko wondered innerly_._

Kaidamaru was smiling slightly while he was thinking about the orange-clad ninja._  
_

_"We shall see, Naruto-san...the road to victory is never a flowery path."_ Kaidamaru smiled with a nod.

Unlike the other two, Kaidamaru sensed the sincere tone in Naruto's words, and that's what made him worried.

Worried for his plan.

* * *

_Flashback - 8 years ago_

_The Hyuuga Clan Complex - An hour later after the kidnapping attempt_

_Kaidamaru sat with the blindfold put on his eyes. The sensation was disgusting. The blindfold was disgusting. The smell of burnt flesh made him puke onto the clean mattress where the branch members treated him._

_He was alone. They said that eyes were the mirrors to the soul. Did he have no soul now? He didn't know._

_He was always taught that peace, whatever the consequences must be, preserved. That good would always triumph at the very end, and everyone's suffering snuffed out through an act of total serenity._

_He believed them as merciless jokes now. There was nothing deeper to the truth he lived just now. And then, it happened._

_His eyes glowed with an eerie tone of dark blue. He was ready. His goal was set. His plan recorded. The meaningless life he had been living just now had all but ended, waiting on the words of an unspoken promise:_

_"Kumogakure no sato to rai no kuni, __Watashi wa hakai shinakereba naranai (The Village Hidden in Cloud, and the Country of Ligthning, I shall destroy"_

_Thus he swore, with blood tearing out through his eyesockets instead of the usual teardrops, that he was what his self-prolonged destiny offered to be._

_An avenger. A destroyer. Someone who shall grant reality to illusions, for illusions were his domain._

_And thus he cried, for the eyes he lost, for his lack of power to protect, for his relatives long gone, for the emptiness that consumed him then._

_And even then, it hurt. It hurt to swear, and it hurt to hear the sobs of one girl he couldn't manage to save by his power._

_"Hello there, kiddo. I'm Nara Shikaku, and I'm here to offer you a home." Shikaku came through the door and sat on the matress. Whether be it through pity or curiosity, the blind kid peeked his interest, and he was bent on raising him as an adopted son._

_Kaidamaru simply turned, blood covering his façade, and his lips tugging into a sad smile:_

_"When shall we go then, Shikaku-san?"_

_And thus his quest began._

_

* * *

"I cannot let him become an obstacle for me. His will is too strong, and his idiocy is optimistic at best, but he has the potential to keep his word."_ Kaidamaru was thinking deeply when he heard Anko shouting at him.

"...hey gaki! Are you hearing me? Hellooo?" Anko was about to throw a kunai when Kaidamaru answered:

"It's my turn isn't it?" Anko calmed down. "My name is Nara Kaidamaru, formerly Urakiri Kaidamaru. I like playing shogi with my brother, Shikamaru, pushing up flowers, cryptology and circuses. I dislike..no, I hate the Lightning country, and everyone that comes from there. My hobbies are practicing genjutsu and creating new techniques for my genjutsu arsenal. And as for my dreams...it is to make them become real." he smiled slightly at the end of his sentence.

_"Well that was eerily similar to Kakashi Sensei's introduction"_ Sakura thought.

_"Why does he hate the Lightning country? Does his lack of eyesight synchronize with this hatred? I wonder"_ Sasuke hid his expression.

_"Well, I wasn't expecting that...but then again, Kurenai-chan told me of his life, so it's not suprising at all" _Anko thought.

_"The kid doesn't seem to have an innate talent, but his thirst for power is obvious. But what is the reason behind it all?"_ Jiraiya and Kakashi wondered.

"Alright then!" Kakashi said aloud "Now that we've introduced ourselves, it's time we moved onto the real deal!" Kakashi said.

"What do you mean, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"It means that true tests never end, Sakura-san" Kaidamaru answered cryptically. "Genin Survival Test, right?" he asked aloud.

Kakashi grimaced. He was hoping to suprise the newbs, but obviously the kid had done his research.

"True. We'll be testing your skills as Genins and see if you are worthy of becoming our students. If you pass, you three(pointing at the to-be-Team 7) are going to form up a Genin team and start your ninja careers." Kakashi informed them.

"But what about the Academy exams?" Naruto demanded loudly.

"If you can't perform a single -and useless- bunshin, then you are simply too weak to even do D-ranks, kiddo. And that means something, trust me." Jiraiya told Naruto.

"...that's actually true. So when do we start?" Naruto asked.

"We shall start next day at 8:30 short. Bring out your wits and your equipments sharp, this is your life-career on the line kids." Anko told them off while walking away with a dango stick on her hand.

"And a word of advice: Don't eat. Or you're gonna puke." Kakashi finished as he shunshin'd.

The trio had their mouths hang open after the last comment. The exams were obviously going to be pretty straining.

"While you guys are going to wait for someone to feed your mouths like that, I think I'll go home and simply eat something before the exhaustion ends its pity on me during the exam. Ja ne" Kaidamaru walked off to the Nara compound.

* * *

Kaidamaru was walking to the Nara compound when he was passing across the Hyuuga Clan compound. He could feel the gaze of the guards before the gate on him as he walked by. Suddenly, he heard some voices when he was passing by.

"I'm just telling the truth, Hinata-sama. Whether you like to accept it or not, fate has decreed that blind boy to be a failure in this life, so why bother arguing?" Neji had a hidden smirk on his face that Kaidamaru could just feel radiating through and poisoning the one person he felt he ever owed his gratitudes for.

"Y..you are w..wrong, Neji-nii-san" Hinata stuttered less while her tone felt resented. "I've seen the fate, and Kaidamaru-san has a destiny upon him that made him pass the Genin tests. Why should Fate abandon him while he cam already this much way?" she asked while her timidness returned at the brash question.

"So you say. Or is it because of the deep regret you've always felt towards that boy when you both failed to save each other? Pitiful." Neji's smirk grew even colder and more mocking as he came closer to Hinata when he saw a shadow coming to him.

"Guilt tripping a lady...how very unlikely for a Hyuuga, and a prodigy no less." Kaidamaru talked as he came closer to Hinata. "Shouldn't a prodigy be a prodigy and keep his unprodigial comments to himself?" he asked, a slight smile tugging his lips.

"Kaidamaru-san..." Hinata felt sad so suddenly, that her regret suddenly weighed upon her like a ton of bricks. "Y..you d..don't n..need t..to pro..protect me..." she stuttered.

"So says the failure who knows his folly. But then again, you two were always looking for each other weren't you?" Neji's eye veins started sticking out. "Always looking at the shadows, trying to hear out, smell out the slightest scent of each other...it is as if you two stalk each other." Neji's Byakugan was active now, an obvious threat to the blind boy.

"Even if I'm a failure, and maybe destined to be a failure; then I'm glad that I'm not someone who disrespects ladies like yourself...enjoy your supremacy, Hyuuga Neji. But know that the higher you are, the harder you fall." Kaidamaru gave a sympathetic nod at Hinata, and began to walk away.

"Thank you, Hinata-san. Thanks to you, my life has a purpose now." Kaidamaru gave her a last smile and began walking to the Nara compund. Neji left Hinata with a scoff, muttering about "foolish blind boys".

Hinata gave a smile after him. She didn't know the reason, but she felt like giving one. After all, who doesn't when they feel like being protected?

* * *

It was late at evening in the Nara clan compound, and the Nara brothers were having a heated conversation over...Mahjong.

"I hate every single son of a mother who could strangely manage this game...you excluded, Shika." Kaidamaru was sweating bullets from his inner rage, rage that came from his lack of Mahjong enlightement.

"It's because while I keep telling you not to call Ron or Chi or Kan, you still do!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "You need to Reach to actually win something, and to do that you must have a full hand!" Shikamaru told Kaidamaru.

"The games aside, how did your meeting go, nii-san?" Kaidamaru asked.

"Tch...so troublesome...Asuma-sensei told us to come at the Training Ground 31 at 9.00 AM sharp. We're yet to see the true need of this exam, not to even tell how Ino was fuming over us." Shika gave a sweat drop.

"She has a nasty temper that will get her on a big trouble soon...but she's good in heart, brother. Trust her, she might suprise you." Kaidamaru chuckled.

"Same thing applies for Chouji too, you know. You should've hanged out with him more" Shikamaru told.

"Can't bring up a conversation with a guy like him...too boring. Why didn't you hang out with Ino anyways?" Kaidamaru asked.

"Because she is a troublesome blonde apparently." Shikamaru looked dumbfounded.

They both laughed and sat silent for a while. Then Shikamaru spoke:

"What do you think will happen to you now, Kai? You aren't assigned to a team after all" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know." said Kaidamaru. "Since the usual system of hand-seals don't work on me, maybe I'll be getting a different regime of training..." he proclaimed. "...but the thing that peeked my interes was the presence of Jiraiya-sama."

"Jiraiya-sama? One of the _Densetsu-no-Sannin_?" Shikamaru almost shouted at the absurdity. What could interest one of the greatest ninjas in the world about a mere genin team-to-be?

"Apparently he came to deliver an important message to Hokage-sama..." Kaidamaru informed Shikamaru "...but that isn't a reason to hang out with a Genin team-to-be. Maybe he was looking for future disciples? I don't know and frankly, I don't care right now."

"What?" Shikamaru asked.

"The hour, brother. We need to wake up early so we can have a hearty breakfast to keep up with our senseis at the exams." Kaidamaru yawned.

"...this topic isn't out of question yet...you still have something you left to say." Shikamaru eyed Kaidamaru.

"You aren't a genius for nothing, nii-san. Why don't you try to learn it yourself?" Kaidamaru and Shikamaru both gave a little chuckle before they went to sleep.

After all, tomorrow was going to be more than a little eventful.

* * *

**Wow...I can't believe I've managed to keep this up.**

**I know that some of you guys are going to say:"Hey, that kid is too over-rated and powerful". But that kid's eyes got plucked out by a worse-than-a-sailor cussing ninja who shattered his life and crippled him. Think a little traumatic, and don't give me the crap of Naruto's "suffering" before you try to compare the kid with other ninjas.**

**War is evil, and everyone who lives through a war knows the traumatic side-effects it brings, one of them mostly being a survivalist, a machiavellist and being a manipulator. Unlike your stereotypical Naruto fanfic, he doesn't get stabbed to almost-death during his birthday, he just gets shunned away from society for something he has no control over, and grows up friendless. While that has a bad effect on trust and social issues, it is by no ways a traumatic experience, like Saskue's or my OC's.**

**Aside from that, do keep your flames outside, and gimme some REVIEWS or I'll use the SexyFine Shampoo on you!**

**Neji: Dude! I'm like...so gonna kick your ass for like...making me look like a pink **** on this episode!**

**Me: Calm down...here, have some magic umicons! They have the power to restore teh evil plot of every epsiodez!**

**Neji: (with sparkling hair and a mouth full of...horns?) YAYSH!**

**And BTW...I love you guyz ^_^  
**


	5. The Survival Instinct

**Cheers everyone ^_^**

**A quick reminder to all of you; I've (as an unintended mistake) put Hinata on Team 7, which is now changed back.**

**The teams will be canon, for I have other plans regarding the development of team 7, and that includes the (temporarily) idiotic Sakura too.**

**I do not intend to make this a bashing fic, however; and thus I shall go through some general character development in the following chapters.**

**Meanwhile for the time being, I've decided to pair everybody's(that's me!) favourite blind OC with Yugito...kinda ironic, aaand yet at the same time, ultimately cliché, don't you think?**

**Until then, which means the time when any of you chaps have another smart idea considering them pairings, it'll remain the same.**

**BTW, do comment on this question will ya? Do you think a NejiSaku pairing would go well?**

**Anyhow, thanks for reading this part. Here we go now, today's episode is brought to you by...Gamabunta'n BOYZ!**

**Gamatatsu: ...aaand as I went home on Monday night, as drunk as drunk could beee!...**

**Gamakichi:...I saw a horse outside the door, where my ol' horse should bee...**

**Gamabunta:...well, I called me wife and I said to her: "Will you kindly tell to me?"...**

**Fukasaku:...who owns that horse outside the door, where my ol' horse should be?**

**Shima: Ah, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see****! That's a lovely sow that me mother sent to me!**

**Everyone: Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more, but a saddle on a sow sure I never saw before!**

**...**

**Wow, who knew the toad summons were Irish?**

**Salutations to the LOLest race ever!**

**Something "storylike" this way comes(00oo0oo0o0o0o0o0) ^_^**

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**Chapter 4 - Double-Edged Survival**

If there was any god out there, the team 7 candidates and special genin candidate were hoping to be smitten.

Because Kakashi obviously was to be this late.

3 hours! 3 goddamn hours with nothing to do but wait, and grow your skinny butts off! Imagine the pain of them ninjas!

And the worse part building up was the hunger that the trio have started to feel. Apparently they decided to be the "sensei's boy (or girl in Sakura's case, but I'm not sure of that 0_0)" and obey the rules he laid for the exams.

Because of the lack of food, with their metabolism crashing down to minimum, the genin candidates were getting really ticked off when all of a sudden, Kakashi came with his classic position that made Anko want to kill the masked bastard.

"Sorry kids, I guess I've been lost on the memory lane." he lamely tried to apologize.

"LIAR!" Sakura, Naruto and Anko shouted...unfortunately Kakashi's ear plugs barely handled the sound power when they fell off.

After some more debating on Kakashi's way of recognizing the concept of general time (which epically failed), both teams have arrived to the training grounds. Kakashi gathered his prospects around him while Anko and Kaidamaru went to another remote direction. Kakashi started explaining.

"Now for some serious business" Kakashi started talking with a serious tone. "On my hand there are 2 bells. If you guys can manage to take them off from me, then I shall accept being your Jounin Sensei. You have a time limit until 12.00, which means you have 2 hours to get me." He put the bells in his waistbelt, and his book in his pouch.

"Now we shall..." he was cut off by Naruto's sudden attack, which he deftly blocked. The blonde stood there, shocked.

"As I was saying before you rudely interrupted," Kakashi got away from Naruto and the other two when he started again "we can begin...NOW!" he shouted to make the emphasis that the survival training have started.

Everyone scattered to the remote and hidden places where they could hide.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kaidamaru and Anko were planning for their own survival training regimen.

Anko had brought up some ninja tools that Kaidamaru wasn't in knowledge of. There were trapwires, senbons, syringes of viper poison, dozens of summoning and sealing scrolls and a common ANBU ninjato.

"What are we to do with all these equipment, Anko-san?" Kaidamaru wondered loudly.

"But Kai-chan, do you have to be so formal? We're going to be _very_ close from now on, as I am your sensei." Being the "ever-vigilant seductress", Anko, with a sultry voice, approached Kaidamaru in a way that would've blowed the blood out of his nostrills if he had any eyes at all.

"(sigh) Just tell me what you're planning and maybe we'll get to be acquainted better sooner, sensei." Kaidamaru finished his tone with a little tease by himself.

_"If this is the way it's going to be, then two can play this game"_ he thought while he was wondering about the test itself. Anko's tone and standing got serious all of a sudden.

"Okay, listen gaki, 'cuz I'm not gonna be telling you these things twice anymore. You're going to be a ninja, and believe me when I say the morals and the ethics of being a shinobi applies to everyone who's set on this path; whether you are a girl or not, or crippled, in your case, as long as you're a ninja, you're the tool of the village that commands you. You'll castrate yourself if it is ordered, and if you're told to drink the blood of your freakin' enemies, then so shall you! Do you understand the importance of all these, and more importantly, do you feel ready for yourself." Anko stood silently as Kaidamaru gave a long, solemn sigh.

"Anko-san, I guess you do know what happened to my eyes, don't you?" Anko nodded silently. Kaidamaru continued: "Ever since I was five, I cried nothing but blood and sweat. My entire life was put on the principles of the nature; that the weak is always the prey of the strong, and the only way to avoid it is to get stronger. By any means, whether be it through the sacrifice of your soul, or the _tool_ itself," Kaidamaru's hands moved to his blindfold "I shall face any danger to me or to the village that is the source of my power, blind-on." he said as he took off the blindfold, leaving a disturbing and gory image on Anko's eyes. There were nothing on the eye-sockets but blood veins and dark-red holes that showed the true façade of the blind ninja.

_"There is absolutely no signs of visual funcionality or any circulation in the lesser veins. No child - no, absolutely no one - should face such a fate." _Anko thought solemnly as her eyes went to the ground, pitiful towards the blind boy who was smiling slightly.

"I understand the fundamentals of the shinobi, and I've decided that I shall become one a long time ago. With my fateful rebirth," Kaidamaru remembered the kidnapping night "I've reborn as a shinobi." Kaidamaru tied his blindfold back on his eyes, and took an Academy taijutsu stance...

...whereas Anko spoke suddenly:

"Hey gaki, don't get into a stance just yet! My evaluation will be different. Tell me, what are your strong points and weak points?" Anko asked loudly, since there was a long distance between them.

"Shouldn't a ninja keep his secrets for the tactical advantage?" Kaidamaru started walking towards Anko as he talked.

"Don't get cocky brat; I just want to know at which areas I shall train you." Anko said as she walked too.

"Well, since I was introduced to the basics of the genjutsu by Itachi-sensei," Anko shuddered at the name. "and taught further into the art by Kurenai-sensei," Anko smiled slightly at the sound of her friend's name "I can boldly claim that I'm the best genjutsu user in this year's group of prospective genins. I have two orijinal genjutsu moves of my own; the first being the Uraomote Bunshin no Jutsu (Opposite Clone Technique); it takes a lot of chakra from me, since it is a solid bunshin," Anko was alarmed at suddenly, could this boy have possibly learned Kage Bunshin no Jutsu unknowingly? She was about to interrupt when he continued;

"However, these clones can be shaped into anyone, and can interact with other people as if it is the person it's in the shape of. It doesn't get blown off by one attack, and it gets whatever knowledge of the person that I shaped the clone into. The downside is, it's knowledge of the shaped depends on how much I know of the shaped person, and after it is created, it's will is entirely independent of me. That means while it's persona represents mine, I'll have no knowledge whatsoever of what it has done when it is disabled." Kaidamaru finished calmly.

_"Even though it isn't Kage Bunshin, it is still an impressive jutsu. I wonder how does he create the clone of the person, since he's unable to see them" _Anko wondered. Kaidamaru showed two fingers on the air.

"My second jutsu, is more like a scouting eye for me. I call it Ninpou: Hansha no Me (Ninja Art: Reflection Eyes)." he rolled up the sleeve of his navy blue shirt and showed the hexagramic rune on the back of his forearm. "In order to train my senses, I had to separate them at first. When I managed to empower my senses of hearing and smell enough to match my eyes, I took my sense of sight and focused it onto my forearm where this seal covers it." On the rune was the kanji "Sight". When I activate the dormant sense, the rune opens up an emitter of light, and I can, for a blink of time, see my opponent if needed. I use this jutsu in collaboration with the Uraomote Bunshin; since I usually need a foresight of my opponent to create a clone of them." Kaidamaru rerolled his sleeve back to normal and stood a bit peeved, uncomfortable for revealing his secrets.

Meanwhile, Anko was dumbstruck at the kids' genius. To overcome his handicap, if only for a blink of time, was no small feat. Even greater part was the survival instinct that the blind kid had grown up. His will to dominate his senses, and not the other way around, made him a jewel in making towards the Illusion arts.

_"I definitely have to tell all of these to Kurenai. She may yet raise another Itachi, if the half of these things he said were correct." _Anko thought shudderingly. She regained her tone.

"Apart from them, my taijutsu, frankly, is worse than Naruto's, and my ninjutsu is only limited to my base knowledge of Henge, Kawarimi and Bunshin no Jutsu. As you see, I don't carry any kunai pouch. That's because I can easily cut myself with them." he finished quite...anticlimatically. BOTh sensei and student sweatdropped.

After then Anko got serious, and threw under his feet the ANBU Ninjato that she brought.

"And what do you expect form me to do with a sword, Anko-san? I just told you that weapons don't have a way with me." he stood, not picking the ninjato beneath his feet.

"I know. That's why we call this, "Survival Training", Kaidamaru. Pick up the ninjato, we'll see how well you fare against a foe with a kunai." Anko said and suddenly she rushed at Kaidamaru with a kunai in her hand.

Kaidamaru didn't have time to panic as he took the ninjato with its scabbard and dodged the kunai. He continued dodging Anko's hardly-heldback attacks, not drawing the sword from its sheath for defense, nor retaliating.

"That won't do, Kai-chan!" Anko said as she threw a barrage of kunai and shuriken at Kaidamaru, who was suddenly cornered to a tree, with a hailing of pointy sharp weapons coming at him with full speed.

Kaidamaru made a quick Kawarimi with a log to replace himself, and kept running like a wild man, while Anko threw weapons at him, now senbons, non-stop. All of a sudden, Kaidamaru's feet tripped onto a haywire, clutching him into a boobytrap and hanging him down from a tree, which made him an easy target for Anko.

As Anko threw another hail, he rotated himself into a position so that her weapons would cut the rope he's been hanging down from. As the rope was cut down, he fell down too, but now he had several bruises and cuts from weapons that barely missed him.

_"That woman is starting to get on my nerves. Why would she want from me to use this weapon?" _Kaidamaru tied the ninjato to his back, while suddenly he stopped to face Anko.

"Oooh, getting serious now are we? Going to draw that sword now? Or another sword? It doesn't matter, the bigger it is the harder they fall, or so the saying goes." Anko had a shit-eating grin while suddenly she stopped grinning as Kaidamaru rolled up his sleeve.

"Ninpou: Hansha no Mei! Shiryoku(Sight), Kai!" Kaidamaru shouted as an lowly humming and emitting sphere of light emerged at the back of his forearm, directed at Anko.

"I won't give you the chance, brat!" Anko cried as she threw a big hail at Kaidamaru. However just as the weapons were getting to the designated target, a poof of smoke appeared.

As the smoke cleared, Anko saw herself, shocked at the perfection of her appearance, holding of every single weapon she threw at Kaidamaru by her clone.

"Uraomote no Bunshin, seikou da(Opposite Clone Jutsu, success)" Nara Kaidamaru finished, with a slight grin on his face. The tables were ready to turn now, or at least he thought while all of a sudden Anko started laughing, _hard._

"And what do you know of me, kid? What do you know of my techinques? Do you think your clone can defeat me by mere weapon skill? Get real!" Anko shouted at her prospective genin.

"I don't think you'll give your own chance on the matter. Attack!" Kaidamaru ordered the clone to attack, which the clone sped with full force at Anko...

...only to be skewered by Anko's very own ninjato. Kaidamaru had a shocked face as Anko spoke:

"Your overconfidence will be your end, _brat_" Anko spoke the last word harshly as Kaidamaru's shocked face turned into one filled with grim rage.

"I SHALL SURVIVE!" Kaidamaru shouted to all ends as he drew the ninjato on his back, parrying Anko's attack and pushing her a few feet back.

"I...WILL...NOT...BE...PITIED!" Kaidamaru started a flurry of blows, one consisting of a high-echelon attack with the momentum of the swing turned into a thrust, and then a low-arc attack which made a spinning trace on the air. He pointed the sword at Anko's neck with only a few centimeters behind while all of a sudden, she disarmed him and spoke to him.

"About time you did that." She spoke with a flat tone, leaving Kaidamaru annoyed. She continued her explanation.

"Survival means to live, no matter what, and whatever the means to do so. It can sometimes mean to do the thing you like the least to survive, that's why I put that ninjato in your hands." she picked the ninjato from the ground, and put it into its sheath "And know that no matter how hard it can be, versatility and adaptation to nature, is a shinobi's...no, a _human's_ most distinguishing speciality." She put the sword into Kaidamaru's hands, and closed them.

"I accept your discipline. You shall be my student from now on. Meet me at Ichiraku Ramen at 9:00 AM sharp. I'll stab you if you're late, and seeing from your adoration of Jiraiya-no-hentai, if you ever so much as touch the Icha Icha, know that I'll castrate you. Apart from these rules, you can feel free to act as you please, Kai-chan." she nodded behind her shoulder with a friendly grin, while she waved her hand from behind and said:

"By the way, practice on the ninjato, will ya? You have the talent for Kenjutsu." she continued her way, leaving Kaidamaru peeved a lot, and gripping on the ninjato's handle hard.

"That woman...will she continue to call me with that hideous nickname?" he wondered aloud while he gathered up his stuff and left the training grounds as he thought the lines:

_"Are you watching me now, brother? I've come one step closer to find you now."_ Blood trickled down his blindfold, the blind boy, shedding tears for his lost brother.

* * *

**I just can't believe that I've managed to finish this one chapter in 2 days! That was totally awesome ^_^**

**As for Naruto's survival exam, it went the same as canon's, so I didn't want to bother writing it.**

**I'll give more details on how Team 10's training went in a summarial phrase, if only it being not "too troublesome" -_-**

**Apart from all of these, go nuts!**

**Check out this link for Kaidamaru's Special Jonin appearance (age:16)**

**.com/art/REQUEST-Oromarth123-178576435**

**Thanks for following! And please, review! I enjoy every single minute of you pals helping a brother out for the greater good of fanficitonism ^_^**

**(Meanwhile)**

**(The Toad Summons in a Yakuza Suit): So, you thought you could fashion us into Irish and get away with it?**

**Oromarth: Well...yeah?**

**Gama Bunta: BOOT TO TEH HEAD!**

**Oromarth: OH NOEZ! Summoning: TEH LOG!**

**Toads: OH S$$T! RUN AWAY!**

**Oromarth: Heh heh...still got it! xD**

**Bai baii!  
**


	6. The Deadly Poison of the Stalwart Heart

**Hello to all dearest readers and friends out there!**

**There is something important I do not wish to forget now; and that'd be disclaiming.**

**...yeah...I don't own the friggin series. If I did, I wouldn't have killed the Ame trio completely, and Jiraiya would've saved the world. PRAISE THE PERVYNESS! O_O**

**...hehehe(nervous chuckle), no pun intended to them beautiful ladies, I just like Jiraiya because he is a far greater man than manga has ever tired to explain.**

**That's why there'd be a lot of Jiraiya love in this story. Let us remember him not as the usual pervert he is, but for the deeper love he holds in his heart for Tsunade; a love which every man could get an example of.**

**Anyway, let us begin shall we? Today's episode brought to you by...everybody's favourtie Dog Duo...(dramatic drums cue) Akamaru and Kiba!**

**Kiba: WHO LET TEH DOGS OUT?**

**Akamaru: WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!**

**...(continuing woofing and shouting for 11 hours straight -_-')**

**Me: JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!**

**Kiba and Akamaru: (whining)**

**Me: Heh...damn straight...**

**Here we go! Onto the next chapter!**

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**The Deadly Poison of the Stalwart Heart - Part 1**

"So what has Itachi told you, Jiraiya? Is there any complications with his joining in the Akatsuki?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Kami no Shinobi" and Konohagakure no Sato no Sandaime Hokage, asked to Jiraiya of the Sannin, Gama-Sennin and the Intel Master of the village. After Orochimaru's escapade two years before the attack of the Kyuubi, Jiraiya spent 14 years pursuing his former teammate and friend, trying to sway him to their side and reason with him to end his foolish quest to gain immortality.

Unfortunately, after a close battle with him two months ago, when Orochimaru has just recently abandoned Akatsuki after trying to implant Uchiha Itachi's eyes to himself, his plan proved to be fatal. The bettle showed Orochimaru's true bestial nature and the source of his kinjutsu. It was then Jiraiya understood his main plan and ambition that made him decide to abandon all ties of friendship with the Snake Charmer.

"There has been complications, sensei. Orochimaru tried to take Itachi's sharingan for his quest to gain immortality, but ultimately failed by Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan." Jiraiya said with a bitter tone in his voice.

Hiruzen got up from his desk chair and looked at the village. Disturbing news, indeed, but why would Orochimaru pursue the Uchiha ocular abilities? He was about to ask when Jiraiya answered his doubts:

"Sensei...I think he plans to implant the sharingan to his soul." Jiraiya confirmed Hiruzen's fears. The last piece of news foretold the greatest danger to the village since the battle between Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Clan Head and Senju Hashirama, Shodai Hokage. The puzzle on how to implant the sharingan to one's soul however...that seemed like a great roadblock.

"How can one implant something to his soul that doesn't belong to him in the first place?" Hiruzen wondered aloud when he saw a strange look upon Jiraiya's face. It was one filled with grave doubts and tiredness, something VERY unlikely to see in Jiraiya's eyes. 50-year-old super pervert suddenly seemed as old as the Hokage himself. Then Jiraiya spoke:

"I fought with him sensei...one last time. I've had enough of battling him...to look into his very eyes, and even seeing his soul...would be enough to scare even Kakashi to quitting from all of this." Jiraiya choked on his words, not trusting his demeanour.

"What happened, Jiraiya?" Hiruzen came near Jiraiya with a warmth that showed his mentor side on the 50-year old sage. That voice tone would always put Jiraiya on ease, making him feel as if he was still the 12-year old brash and youthful kid who was being taught by a gentle and experienced ninja. Then Jiraiya started telling what happened:

* * *

_Flashback - 2 Months Ago, One of Orochimaru's Secret Hideouts_

_Both ninjas panted strongly; their battle was at its climax, the hideout was mainly destroyed due to the collaborative damage former teammates brought, and both prisoner and ninja bodies lay on the landscape, painting the ground red with the blood._

_Jiraiya stood firmly and resolute, with his Sage Mode on. His former teammate had proved to be much more difficult to defeat the last time they fought, 14 years ago. Since then, both have learned the mastery of their respective Summon Jutsus, making them earn the title they both held. The duo were strong enough to take on Hanzo the Salamander each by his own now. Gone were the naive and youthful behaviour of the lost 14 years. The means to a shinobi taught them to be free of ideals, and free of imagination in terms of battlefield. The former super pervert and author of the worldly-known Icha-Icha series had an eyesight that which saw nothing but blood._

_Orochimaru was no different than Jiraiya. His regenerative skin worked no longer; since the means of being a Snake-Charmer required to abandon all regeneration abilities and focus mainly on speed and attack power. His body -no- his soul, consisted of thousand of white snakes which showed the true Sage Mode of the snake summoners. His evil and mocking grin was replaced with a pair of blood-crazed dark-purple slitted snake eyes. Around him rose a blood-colored aura which fed on the souls of the lost bodies, replenishing his lifespan, due to the side effects of the Snake Sage Mode._

_"As much as I hate to admit it, you're strong, Orochi." Jiraiya gave a half-full smirk on his enemy, wincing as the pain coursed through his body._

_"That makes two of us, idiot." Orochimaru gave him a full-blown smirk that chilled Jiraiya to the bone. They paused for a while, then Jiraiya spoke._

_"Let's end this, Orochimaru. One last move, just like the old times, whaddya say?" Jiraiya went into the classical Gama-Fu stance while Orochimaru took on the Hebi-Fu style._

_"Yeah...let's..." Orochimaru picked up the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, one of the legendary five weapons which posessed the element of Earth. In Orochimaru's hands, the sword posessed the capability of synthesing a deadly poison which had no cure._

_"And whatever happens, the Sannin goes on!" Both have shouted traditionally as they lunged at each other, an Oodama Rasengan on Jiraiya's hands while Kusanagi was held by Orochimaru._

_BOOOM!_

_And all hell ensued. Debris and trash were flown with kilometric speeds at all corners. The former hideout was nothing short of a battlefield now. As the smoke cleared, the climax of the battle ended._

_Kusanagi was thrust into Jiraiya's lungs, while Oodama Rasengan was still making its way into Orochimaru's kidneys. They both fell back a couple meters before falling down. Both the poison and the impact of both weapons started to annihilate the former teammates' lives, until all of a sudden, Orochimaru spoke._

_"This is the end, idiot...but not our lives' end." he choke, while trying to get up, all while holding his lower abdomen._

_Jiraiya leaned on a debris stone. He was starting to sweat now. The poison had started coursing through his...veins? No...it didn't course through his veins..._

_It coursed through his chakra coils..._

_"Damn you, Orochimaru...this is...you have...why?" Jiraiya almost started to foam through his mouth when Orochimaru used his rebirth jutsu, puking himself out of his former shell._

_"Because of the collateral damage you've caused me, I can never use that jutsu again...but since I've started to destroy your chakra system, I guess this compensates for what you've done to me, doesn't it, idiot?" Orochimaru got up suddenly and started walking towards Jiraiya, holding his sword by his side. He had a solemn look on his face, while Jiraiya, with great difficulty, managed to stay conscious and glared at him with all the hate he can muster._

_"I'm glad, Jiraiya. I'm glad that we've managed to fight one last time, and I'm glad that in the end, I was the winner." Orochimaru raised the sword and thrusted it at Jiraiya while all of a sudden..._

_...a flock of crows surrounded Orochimaru. Itachi had come._

_Orochimaru was taken aback by the illusion, and he jumped a few steps back. He saw Itachi holding an unconscious Jiraiya while glaring at him with full-blazed Mangekyo Sharingan. Hatred filled Itachi's eyes, and words:_

_"If you so much as try to harm Konoha, or my brother, in any way, Orochmaru...you shall suffer tenfold on what you'll unleash." Itachi shunshin'ed away with a flock of crows gathering around him. Sound ninja arrived at the place._

_"We're sorry, Orochimaru-sama! We've tried to help, but..." the ninja was cut off as Orochimaru sliced his head of without a moment's thinking. He turned at the sound ninjas._

_"We shall go back to the village now." he started walking, and thinking quietly._

_"Kukuku...we shall see, Itachi-san...after all, if I can't have your eyes, there is still one more Uchiha to go by..." he started laughing maniacally as he walked away from the battle scene, thinking of a certain Chicken-Butt haired Uchiha._

_Jiraiya's consciousness, though, held on long enough to hear the emphasis on Orochimaru's cryptic tone. He needed to go to the village, and fast..._

_...but even once for a while, an old man deserved his rest...after all, his deal with his former best friend was over...and that poson really gave a slight tingle..._

_Jiraiya knew no further. His head slumped forward, and his eyeballs rolled at the back of his head.  
_

_

* * *

_"Itachi brought me to one of his hideouts. He told me that I was knocked unconscious for 3 months, and only after intervening with Tsunade-hime herself could he heal the "painful" part of my wounds." Jiraiya looked down with shame. "Even then, he told me that convincing Tsunade that I was really knocked unconsicous and this wasn't a trick to get her under my pants was worth more boxes of pocky than my accounts could handle." Jiraiya had a fake pout on his face, his emotions mixed with sorrow, anger, and...regret?

"That would've been probably a true occasion if you weren't really knocked unconscious, Jiraiya." Hiruzen gave a heartless chuckle, followed by a sigh. He continued his questions:

"You said the painful part of the wounds were healed...that means there is still some damage, isn't it?" Hiruzen came closer to Jiraiya, facing him now. Jiraiya turned away, not being able to look at the face of his former master.

"I'll live no longer than 10 years, sensei...and each time I start to use my chakra, my lifespan will drop faster. Mine is no longer the chakra of a human..." he summoned a chakra aura around him, and the color of the chakra showed grey.

"...but the chakra of a Humanized Hanyou." Jiraiya had distinguishing figures on his body now. His Sage-Mode appearance seemed to appear every time he summoned his chakra; except he had a swishing horned tail and more serpentine body parts, including a forked tongue, which slitted his voice, and a grey aura which tainted his normal blue aura. Jiraiya ended summoning chakra, and turned to the Hokage, who had a sorrowful and almost tearful look on his face.

"What are you thinking, sensei? I've never realized how much I've missed the village now that I have a limited lifespan, and I for one, do not want to leave here for a while." Jiraiya tried to give his trademark cheeky smile, but was cut off with Hiruzen holding his shoulders with trembling hands.

"Know that I've always been proudful of you, Jira-chan." Hiruzen used his old nickname, which made Jiraiya give a true smile. "Whenever you've failed, or lost in a battle, I knew that you'd still prevail in the main war. I've seen in you the will to survive in this harsh world, which made me decide to teach you as my pupil. Know that whatever you want to do, you'll have my blessing." Hiruzen gave a hearty pat on Jiraiya's shoulders, who was watching, as Hiruzen spoke, the crying eyes of the man he got used to love as a father.

"Those are very strong words sensei...have you been oversmoking again?" Jiraiya had an almost lechery smirk before Sandaime squeezed the life out of Jiraiya's shoulders, giving him a wildened look.

"Must you push the romance out of everything, baka yarou?" Jiraiya sweat-dropped at the anime-tearful face of the Sandaime Hokage, and then straightened.

"Thanks...sensei." Jiraiya over-looked at the village, which was bustling with life under the usual-warm Konoha summer. "I think I'll give a visit to my grandson. It's time I did something right for once in my life." Jiraiya had a serious look on his face, and right after, he got out of the window of the office.

"THERE IS A DOOR FOR A REASON, YOU KNOW!" Hiruzen shouted aloud after him, and gave a full-blown sigh. "Heh...he's just like Tobirama-sensei...always rushing and fighting head on with his difficulties..." he took out the first novel of the Gama-Sennin, one which was sold to only four people, unlike your given knowledge.

"...just like how a man should." Hiruzen smiled warmly at the book of his legacy, and the epitome of the will of fire...the Legend of the Gutsy Ninja.

* * *

Kaidamaru met Team 7 and its sensei while he went to the Ichiraku's to wait for his own sensei. The trio (actually, only Naruto) waved at him to come over, which Kaidamaru complied due to the boredom he would suffer to wait his perky sensei who was, at her finest, unyielding as Kakashi when it came to the terms of "being late".

"How's it going, Kaida? How did your training go?" Naruto asked rather politely, his sugar rush dropping a few levels due to the constant consumption of ramen he was just going through.

"It went rather well, Naruto-san, thanks for asking. I was just about to meet my sensei here when I stumbled onto you." Kaidamaru gave a slight smile at the hyper-blonde.

"I'm suprised...I didn't think you'd actually pass the training. Anko-sensei must've gone soft..." Sasuke talked arrogantly at the blind genin who kept his smile, even broadening it, turning to Sasuke, which infuriated Sakura and Sasuke.

"Hey! Sasuke-kun has just told you something! Answer to him, you moron!" Sakura shouted the earlobs off the blind genin who winced slightly at the loud tone.

"Yup...just as I suspected...you must've been the "Ino"." Kaidamaru said with a slight whine in his tone while Sakura was hardly held back by Naruto, who was getting punched the hell out instead of Kaidamaru, the original target.

"Maa...maa...why don't you kids all calm down...this is a public place, after all." Kakashi calmed down his students, while during all the time, Sasuke said nothing but your trademark Uchiha word: "Hn."

After a while, they started talking again, thanks to the blonde Uzumaki.

"Hey, Kaida, how was Shikamaru's exam? He's your brother, and all you know..." Naruto asked with a little tone of nervousness under his voice.

"You are really someone, Naruto-san...no wonder Hinata-chan loves you..." Kaidamaru chuckled with the last part of the sentence going under tone. That didn't went unnoticed by Kakashi.

"My brother managed pass the survival training." Kaidamaru began explaining, his tone gathering higher frequency. "He told me that Asuma-sensei made them fight against him, and they tried to immobilize and hit at him at least one time. Shikamaru-nii san, after great preparation of traps and tactical planning, have managed to trap him under his Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Technique), while Ino-chan waited resolutely to trap him under the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Transfer Technique). After then, Chouji-san gave Asuma-sensei a slap with his clan jutsu, Chou Baika no Jutsu (Partial Body Expansion Technique) which made Nii-san and Asuma-sensei fly ten feet high..." Kaidamaru gave an innocent pout while each four member of Team 7 sweatdropped.

"Anyways, Asuma-sensei thought it'd be better to bring them together as a team, just like how their fathers used to be..." Kaidamaru's voice tone dropped a few syllables, which went unnoticed by the genin. Kakashi, however, knew the reason.

"Ah...Ino-Shika-Chou formation redux...Shikaku-san, Chouza-san and Inoichi-san have brought great glory to our village in their prime...I won't be suprised if they surpass their parents...after all, the younger generations will always surpass the older generations..." Kakashi gave a look at the Hokage Monument, which showed basically the entire history of the village. Genins looked at Kakashi with a different awe, while Kakashi thought of his own team as he ended his sentence:

"For it is the will of the nature." Kakashi gave an eye-smile at the genins, who were relaxed greatly, but not before Naruto screamed his shock out of the entire restaurant.

"WHAAT? But...that means...your father is Shikaku-san, Kaidamaru!" Naruto pointed at Kaidamaru rather rudely as Kaidamaru pushed Naruto's finger with annoyance.

"That's true, Naruto. Shikaku-sama gave me everything a father must give to his son; a roof under my bed, a shoulder to cry on," he subconsciously touched his blindfold "and the necessary consumptions to survive." Kaidamaru ended his sentence with a neutral tone, leaving everyone wondering...

...while all of a sudden, everybodys favourite Hebi-Hime (snake princess) arrived at the scene...or rather, her kunai arrived before her, which was thrown at one of the columns that held the booth, almost slicing Kaidamaru's nose if it wasn't any bigger. Kaidamaru's skin tone had went to an albino-level of white due to the scare that woman gave at him. He barely turned his head to see the Serpent Mistress conversing with the Copycat-Ninja of Konoha.

"Yo, Kakashi! What are you and your little runts doing around here?" Anko gave a hearty wave and grinned at Kakashi, who returned her salutations.

"We were just about to start our D-rank missions, Anko-san. May I ask what were you doing?" Kakashi eye-smiled at the Special Jounin, who grinned even more shittingly.

"I was just about to start tortu...err, training...yes, training our little blind gaki here, weren't we, Kai-chan?" Team 7 (except Kakashi) started laughing their buttcheeks off at the childish nickname...well, except for Sasuke, who smiled and "hn" ed, but that's all you can get as a smile from an Uchiha anyway, so whatevs...Kaidamaru's albino-white skin tone went into a dark red shade as his veins started ticking off.

"I told you not to call me that, sensei!" His inexistent eyes grew into an anime-style anger, his teeth clattering as he waved his fist at...nowhere.

Another wave of laughter. Kaidamaru stood for a while, his eyebrows twinkling. And then he stopped waving, knownig that his fail was on today.

All of a sudden, ANBU appeared out of nowhere, whispering words into Kakashi's and Anko's ears. Then the latter jounin spoke together:

"We're summoned by the Hokage to his office. That's where we are heading now." the Jounin's said, their façade turning into a serious manner as they went to face the leader of the village.

* * *

"Ah, there you are, Kakashi, Anko." Hiruzen Sarutobi greeted the team 7 and the Special Genin Squad as other senseis of other genin teams were waiting the mentioned ninjas to arrive.

"We've tried to arrive as quick as we can, Hokage-sama" the jounins both chorused as their students stood at attention at their leader...

...well, except for Naruto. Being the hotheaded hyperactive knucklehead he is, he sheepishly smiled at the Hokage.

"What's up, oyaji?" Naruto cheekily smiled before Sakura tried punched the kid in the head (A/N: Okay, seriously, tihs part'll be awesome.)...

...but not before Kaidamaru held Sakura's punch, shocking the girl and making her eyes go wide.

"You'd do well to stop hitting your teammate, Sakura-san." Kaidamaru started with a low and cold tone at the pink-haired kunoichi "I'll not tolerate your abusive actions at my friend while I'm present." he finished his words as he gave her wrist a flick and send her a few feets back, making her hold her ankle in pain and tears in her eyes.

_"I wasn't abusing him...I was just teasing him...wasn't I?"_ Inner Sakura gave no reply. Sakura slumped her head forward, while Naruto turned at Kaidamaru, his eyes were blazing with anger.

"Don't you dare hurt Sakura-chan ever again, Kaidamaru!" Naruto shouted in an angry tone as all the other genins (Konoha 12) gathered around him. The Hokage watched the scenery intentely, holding back any intervention from the jounin senseis.

"I don't understand, Naruto-san. Didn't she hurt you? How come could you stand for such abusement? You think that's her way of showing an affection?" Kaidamaru's inquisitive tone turned into a loud and annoyed one "From what I just felt, that sort of behaviour is nothing short of fending an idiot off!" Kaidamaru swinged his arm in an arc, demonstrating his annoyance at Naruto's naiveté. Murmurs from the genins started to appear.

"Tch...too troublesome, brother...why did you have to do such a troublesome action?" Shikamaru whispered at himself, eyeing Kaidamaru with intense curiosity.

"K..Kaidamaru-kun..." Hinata was worried for both of the arguing genin. She didn't want Naruto's feelings to be hurt, but she also agreed to Kaidamaru's point of view. She too, thought that Sakura's behaviour towards her crush was totally unrighteous.

"You know, he is actually right..." Ino suprisingly said aloud. "...I am not, for one, a friend of Naruto's, but I know that that sort of behaviour, if someone had acted towards me with, I'd not be as polite as them." Ino gave a disapproving look at Ino, and suprisingly, to Naruto.

Shino, Kiba, and Chouji have all agreed murmuringly with Ino, while Sasuke remained observant, his silence secured to see the conclusion of the arguement, while all of a sudden, Naruto shouted aloud.

"You all just shut up! Do you know how much Sakura-chan means to me? You have no right to..." Naruto was cut off as Sakura, her head hanging low, held Naruto's arm, silencing him.

"Sakura...chan..." Naruto stopped dead at his sntence, when Sakura spoke:

"They are right...Naruto. Until this moment, I've been subconsciously abusing you, while you deserved better. Maybe I need to loosen up a little bit to see the good part in you," Sakura scoffed a little, which made the ninjas wince in slight annoyance by now " but I know that nobody, especially a teammate, should bully another, just like I did. I apologize." Self-criticism was a hard pill to swallow, and even harder to put into action as Sakura turned to Naruto and Kaidamaru to apologize.

"As long as the message is received, we're good, Sakura-san." Kaidamaru smiled at Sakura who gave at her a slight nod. Things, though, didn't went as smoothly as Naruto, who kept being unusually silent.

_"Smooth move there, gaki" _Anko thought as she and other jounin senseis, along with the Hokage, smiled at the tensions relieving.

Naruto was about to be asked about his silence while Hokage gathered all the attention at himself again, his authoritive tone at its finest:

"I've gathered you all around here, because of one of the necessities of being a ninja: killing." Everyone, including the jounin senseis winced, while genin were absolutely shocked to learn more. Kaidamaru, Sasuke and Naruto somewhat remained calmer than the others.

"It is a known aspect, to the experienced shinobi, that death is a necessity in our line of work. While we take no pleasure in commiting such an act, we are aware of the necessity that the job needs done. What am I about to assing to you and your teams may disturb the most of you, and even cause you to quit the job altogether. Thus, I ask for the faint of heart to place their headbands on the desk right now." Hokage proclaimed and awaited for the reactions.

Most of the genins; except for Hinata, weren't much scared, but the Hyuuga Heiress had already started dehydrating, sweating before their own consciousness. Hinata almost gave her out a whimper when Naruto saw it.

More the one was afraid of death, more the love one held in heart grew. It was at that moment that Naruto saw the love in Hinata's heart. He remembered her behaviour in the academy; how she was always kind to the other people, even those who belittled her, how she loved the nature, as she tread around the everlasting gardens of Konoha, and smelling the scent of beautiful flowers every once in a while.

He saw that kind of love didn't need to go wasted. He wanted to see that love, to cherish in one similar to it, to bathe in it, for the thirst of love is ever unquenchable when one doesn't get filled by love at the youth.

"Hinata-chan" Naruto took her attention, as she blushed at him, starting to sweat even harder.

"Y..yes, Naruto-kun?" Hinata turned at her crush, awaiting his word.

"Don't quit." Hinata's eyes grew up into saucers, her shock and apparent contence reddening her face like a tomato "Don't let your heart go waste. You aren't faint of heart. No, few have ever been born with a heart such as yours. We'll take whatever is thrown at us together" Naruto opened his arms wide " We are the Konoha 12, and we shall take whatever dangers this world throws at us, as one. BELIEVE IT!" Naruto gave her his trademark foxy grin and a thumbs up as everyone in the room grew up another manner of respect at the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Y..yeah...we shall...b..be o..one..." Hinata hardly managed the sentence as she fainted. Kaidamaru held her, while giving Naruto an applauding nod. He recieved no reply, though, and that made Kaidamaru suspicious.

_"What is going on through your mind, Naruto-san?" _Kaidamaru wondered with a slight smirk on his face as Hokage spoke.

"Well said, Naruto." The old man had a hearty smile. "Now, hopefully with all of you willing to see through this to the end," Hokage got up, declaring the mission. "Your mission is to kill the bandits and destroy their camping settlements around this part of the Konoha Forest. This missionative curriculum was designed to make you adapt into the harsh realities of the Ninja World sooner, and accelerating your growth rate." Hokage ended as he showed a random spot in the map, which showed the bandit camping settlements on.

"Your mission starts at 10.00 AM sharp. Prepare anything that you'd need to use in a real mission, for this won't be your daily chores. You are all dismissed." Hokage dismissed the Konoha 12 and their senseis.

Kaidamaru was carrying Hinata to the fountain in front of the Hokage building as he saw Naruto sitting on the fountain, glaring at him flamely. Kaidamaru put Hinata on the fountain, nestling her head on his lap, and putting her in a comfortable position.

"I can see why she likes you, you know." Kaidamaru started speaking. "She loves you, Naruto. And yes, it may be a crush, but her heart...ah yes, it seems that you saw her...strange is the fact that one with intentions so pure could ever exist, isn't it?" Kaidamaru shocked Naruto to hell and back by newsflashing him the fact that Hinata loved Naruto. The blonde gennin looked absoultely flabbergasted at the news, shaking profusely and sweating hardly, his eyes wide open.

"What are you..." Naruto tried to spoke "...no, who are you, Kaidamaru?" Naruto looked hardly at the blind genin "What are you trying to do with me? I've known Sakura for 4 years! 4 YEARS! And she never, on not even one occasion, ever apologized to someone, except for Sasuke!" Naruto got up, swinging his arms in an infuriated manner.

"Don't take them away from me!" he got Kaidamaru on his neck collar "Don't ever try to make them go cold towards me! I can barely handle with being in a home with no one but myself as it is!" Naruto dropped Kaidamaru, who was still smiling, almost pitifully at the blonde ninja.

"Do you really believe you've just lost..." Kaidamaru pointed at where Sakura was, as usually, trying to woo Sasuke as if nothing happened just now "...or perhaps, you've won?" Kaidamaru showed the serene façade of Hyuuga Hinata, with a small tint of pink on her face, who was whispering in the Konoha wind that made Naruto shiver to his bones.

"Do help her around when she needs you, Naruto-san." Kaidamaru got up and walked towards Shikamaru's direction "For your need shall require a love that can be only given from her heart." Kaidamaru ended his words and waved at the blonde gaki "Ja ne".

Naruto waited near Hinata, watching her expressions and every movement as she woke up after 10 minutes. She was flabbergasted to find her head on Naruto's lap, but managed to keep her calm...barely as Naruto spoke.

"You shouldn't faint so much, Hinata-chan...or else I'll be afraid for your health." Naruto spoke with a very gentle tone, smiling ever warmly at the pale-eyed girl's eyes.

"Th..Thanks for w..waiting he..here for m..me, Naruto-kun." Hinata fidgeted on her own account as usual.

"It's getting late, Hinata-chan...we should be heading home." Naruto suddenly looked nervous, blushing slightly, and finding the ground beneath very interesting.

"I...I suppose s..so." Hinata looked sad to leave Naruto so soon, while all of a sudden, Naruto turned at her, while he got up and held Hinata's hand.

"Do you...mind if I escort you to your home, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked with all the (unnecessary, his thoughts) courage he could muster as Hinata gave a small "eep", and smiled warmly at Naruto.

"I'd be happy to, Naruto-kun" she told as they both walked to the Hyuuga Compound with their hands occasionally touching each other, as a sign of a blossoming new love.

* * *

**That romance was sooooo coooool! ^_^**

**And you've gotta accept it, folks. I'm giving my best to turn this into a well deserving and out-of-the-ordinary NaruHina fanfiction, and I believe that it's turning out pretty well.**

**But hey, I'm not perfect. But reviews are! Let's give some of 'em to this little old Florist, shall we?**

**BTW; you've gotta see the unrequited love my poor poor O.C holds at the Hyuuga Hime...(sniff) I'm going to pair him though, as I've said before, but not until (at goddamn last) I get myself a girlfriend (^_^)**

**Anyhow, thanks for reading this chapter! Hope to see you soon again!**

**This is the Enlighthened Florist, signing off,**

**Ja ne!  
**


	7. The Will To Live and Die

Hello there everyone ^_^ Back to business after some time, innit?

I've been working my back off for the university exams in mah country(which you might know already), and lemme tell you, it's a real pain in the $$! Yeah, that magical -_-'

But then again, what can stop the beautiful flow of the life? Such is the fanfiction, anyways =)

Now, onto the regarding matters;

First, I'm well aware of how sick you guys are concerning my infatuation with my OC. Righteous. And I'm also aware of the fact that a super-powerful awesome canon-char beating him in a mega-showdown during the Chuunin Exams arc might also satisfy your bloodlust against this one's blood ^_^.

Thus, I've made a decision: Since I'll make the Chuunin Exams go until the end as dear old Orochimaru is unable to use any jutsu thanks to Jiraiya-sama, how do you wish of me to arrange the fighting sessions? Make a call!

Also, my thanks to the 19 reviews I've received since then. I'll not go out and lie that Kaidamaru is so NOT similar to my own psychosis, but I'll make this story worth your while. It'll be epic length, period!

And now, disclaimer advertisement brought to you by the shortest acting anime character of the world (as far as I know as)...ROWER in the Zabuza Arc!

Rower: Aaaai...liiiieek...roaauwin...(a terrible bluesmaster indeed)

(Gets beat down by Kakashi and Co.)

Rower: Auw geeze louise...roight, roight...this furry little bastard on the keyboard doesn't own the series...and neither does he own my own parody, Naruto Abridged, which is owned by MasakoX and Vegeta...something...yeah. The mastermind though, is Masahi Kishimoto.

Masashi za Pimprentice(because no one can beat Jiraiya in his area of expertise O_O): Damn straight ^_^.

And off we go again!

The Will to Live and Die

6.00 AM, in Nara Clan Compound

Nara Shikaku sat in front of Shikamaru and Kaidamaru, eyeing them with caution and emphaty as the two ate their breakfasts. The mission assigned was due today, and it would have been a huge fault if their grumbling stomachs failed them in the middle of the mission.

But what worried him was actually their stomachs emptied during the mission. He was made aware of Hokage's trial when he returned from a B-rank mission consisting of escorting a high-ranking samurai officer to the Fire Daimyo's palace for strategy organizations. And his reaction fared not good at all.

He was furious. While he held his country, and the future of the younger generation in high regard, he didn't approve of the thought of sending 12-year old children to slaughter merely for the fact of introducing them to the Sin of the Shinobi. It seemed only natural that Danzo had a little finger put on the back of the idea, and that fact made the mission seem even more fishy.

Sandaime Hokage was a reasonable, and sensible man, but when he felt the village needed what he thought, his demeanour changed into the old dictatoral military leader he was while in his prime. And with his aging at hand, some of the orders he'd been giving out seemed a lot more Danzo-influenced than before; such as the extermination of the Uchiha clan, which was secretly ordered to Uchiha Itachi after gaining his Mangekyou Sharingan, and the sacrifice of Hizashi Hyuuga's life in trade for the traitorous Lightning ambassador, who at the same time was the cause of Kaidamaru's blindness.

Konoha, even when lost his beloved Fourth Hokage, was still a village holding a major power in Strategical and Geopolitical importance. The mere fact of the Legendary Sannin hailing from the village originaly, many strategical geniuses like Shikaku himself, Sandaime's son and former Fire guardian, who were on par with the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nanain Shu (The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist) Asuma Sarutobi and alike, were only a few of the reasons that village held so much power.

And power corrupts, after some time. And that was what frightened Shikaku to no end until he was cut off his train of thought when he heard a voice...

"I do not like this, tou-san." Shikamaru held a worryful and at the same time, serious face while he was looking at Shikaku.

"Neither do I, my dear son." Shikaku gave a sigh. "It worries me to no end, actually. Besides the calculated risk of sending mere rookie genin to fight off the bandits, I'm worried for your friends. Some may not take killing as easily as you might. And for you, however needless my words may be." his words ended with sorrow dripping on about them, while Kaidamaru tilted his head to Shikaku.

"You shan't need to worry about us, tou-sama." Kaidamaru gave a slight smile as he continued "I've had my share of killing before, and I trust Shikamaru-nii concerning the matter at hand. It takes a sensible man to kill, right?" Kaidamaru gave a forced chuckle when Shikamaru turned at him, his aura turning into a grey shade.

"No, Kaida." Shikamaru raised his head "It takes a man who's willing to die to kill someone." he turned to his father. "It's the will to live or die, and that's the secret of the art." he finished, rising from the table.

"Indeed" Shikaku gave a wry smile at Shikamaru when he turned to Kaidamaru, his wrinkles showing as he frowned at him:

"It is such thoughts that separate a Konoha shinobi from other shinobi, Kaidamaru. While it is right to not mixing any humanity-loving emotions like innocence or purity for a kill, it doesn't simply make a man sensible. At some degree, your heart will falter, and you'll look for other ways to prove your self-righteousness." he looked away as if the table was on fire. His frown deepened "Like seeking swifter and colder ways of killing someone. That, at some point, will surely turn you into the belief that it is fun to kill someone, and you'd consider yourself a hero for killing people. That is not our way, and it has a good reason, as to the examples at hand."

Shikaku took out a bingo book from his pocket, and started reading from it:

"Momochi Zabuza: Former Leader of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, listed as an A-rank shinobi. His famous handiwork includes slaughtering the entire Genin-candidates who were on the Genin Exams of the Bloody Mist, an attempted assassination on the Sandaime Mizukage, and the genocide of the Oukutsuji Clan (A/N: Made that up, it will have an important role in future arcs)." he closed the book and turned to Kaidamaru, who stood silent while the conversation went on, a forced smile on his face.

"That, obviously, is pure evil tou-sama...but what does it have to do with what you told me?" Kaidamaru asked, feeling a tinge of betrayal at his foster father's actions towards him.

"Years ago, when the Mist village was called the Bloody Mist, the genin exam onsisted of only one part: killing your school friend, the men and women who ate with you from the same table for 4 years. While 4 years of excelling shinobi were graduated for 4 years, the Mist village thrived in luxury...until this very fact. Zabuza was one of the genin candidates, who was able to slaughter other 63 genin candidates. It sshook the village like none other event before. They disbanded their shinobi training program to a more pacifist one, and set a demon in loose."

"Zabuza broke his very heart on the path of life afterwards. His machiavelist thoughts led him into slaughtering an entire clan of people during the Bloodline Limit Wars, and later on it led to an idealist spree of Coup d'Etat which ended in failure, not because of his lack of strength, but his lack of heart to see a mission through the end." Shikaku ended with a solemn stance.

"Machiavelism, while meaning gaining power through any means necessity, is a pathway to hatred and hollowness, the curse of our age. The curse of the shinobi, otherways." Shikaku finished his words, as Kadiamaru stretched his arms.

"Yare yare...you know, I only said that we'd handle it better than others, tou-sama." he chuckled, and then turned into a sad, yet serious stance. "Not that I didn't get what you mean, though." he turned to Shikamaru, who nodded absently.

"At any rate, you kids shouldn't be late for the task at hand. I know it's troublesome, but I wish you luck on the ordeal before you. It is a trial by fire, after all. As we succeeded, so shall you." Shikaku gave them a pat on the shoulder as the duo went on their merry way to the common meeting place, Ichiraku Ramen.

7.00 AM - Ichiraku Ramen Stand

Shikamaru was speechless at what he saw when the duo arrived at the stand. Hinata was leaning on Naruto's side cuddled up as if he was a pillow, just like she used to dream when...well, actually her entire life. Images of her sleeping like that flowed through her mind and she became thankful that Naruto finally started to be fond of her. Her eyes darted to Naruto and noticed a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Ano..." Naruto cleared his throat as the duo came near. Hinata sat up quickly, bowing her head in greetings, as the duo nodded respectingly. Shikamaru couldn't help but notice how much her usual aura changed, on the contrary against her usual timidiness. His eyes scanned over her eyes and saw nothing but pure happiness. Naruto was looking uneasily at him but then she turned toward Naruto. There was no uneasiness in her beautiful lavender eyes. Kaidamaru turned his face toward Naruto who was glancing between Shikamaru and him.

"Naruto-san, I see you've taken up some of my advice?" Kaidamaru practically beamed at Naruto, grinning devilishly like a matchmaker.

"Huh?" Shikamaru turned toward Kaidamaru, "Since when have you become the matchmaker, Kaida? Quote me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen you with a girl either." Shikamaru tilted his head questioningly as Kaidamaru sputtered something like "That's Not True", his façade betraying him.

"Exactly!" Shikamaru crossed his arms, then turned to Naruto "Hey, Naruto, Hinata-san, how are you?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked in confusion, then retained his trademark grin, while Hinata's face started building up Chromoplasts of red color. "Oh, I was just going to greet you guys, me and Hinata were talking about the exams today. I had to prepare for the exam tomorrow after I dropped her home. " Naruto finished with his usual grin whilst Kaidamaru's got even bigger.

"Anything we can help with? Though that's a useless question to ask, since you seem to "handle" Hinata-chan well" Kaidamaru leveled up to a shit-eating grin as Naruto got even shocked (because even he is not that oblivious), and Hinata clinging onto her last parts of sanity for not fainting with all the "handling" images Kadamaru put into her head. "Too easy, too easy" Kaidamaru thought as the couple stuttered like hell.

"Troublesome, really troublesome, dear brother of mine" Shikamaru shook his head.

"It's just tedious last minute cheesiness, nii-san. Let's just chill out before we lose our innocence. If anything, we'll have a party tomorrow." Kaidamaru smiled sadly at the genin.

"I guess you're right." Sakura's voice floated from the alley. "That and we need to strategize if we want to survive the exam, no?" Her stance and voice tone seemed to change in a dramatic fashion as she stepped closer with a nervous attitude as she saw Kaidamaru and Naruto looking at her in close curiosity.

"Hn...you seem changed, Sakura." Sasuke frowned, leaping from a nearby tree and walking out to the stand, as the rest of the gennin followed from nearby alleys.

"This seems serious business, Sasuke-kun. Hokage-sama himself seemed serious about the mission." Sakura smiled sadly, strangely stopping her blushing and stuttering in presence of Sasuke (A/N: OMG! Can she do that? Oh yeah, use the FanFiction, Luke!...). She was leaning against a wall, wearing her usual attire. Naruto smothered, whilst Kaidamaru and Sasuke tilted their eyebrows in an inquiring manner.

"That...is true...wow Sakura-san, you have a knack for suprising me...and I'm not suprised easily." Kaidamaru pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hn...that is better Sakura." Sasuke actually shot a tiny smirk at Sakura, which activated her inner-part of the brain, screwing her mind with the inner-Sakura.

"No kidding." Ino shrugged.

"Let's go then, everyone." Sasuke and the gennin began walking through the alley toward the main gates of the village, looking for their teachers.

"This isn't good" Naruto grimaced. He shot a look at Sakura's side when he saw the tint of desperation and fear in her eyes. He felt like he needed to save her form these feelings, but strangely, he didn't feel jealous of Sasuke this time. "I can't let her heart go waste...but why can't I trust my own heart, while I'm hoping to save hers? Is it not enough, the pain and fear of death I've suffered for so long?" he seemed totally lost in his own thoughts when Hinata turned her face to his, smiling.

"Naruto-kun, is there anything I can do to ease your heart?" Hinata asked, quirking her head slightly as she gave a worrying smile at Naruto. His eyes grew in unexpectance as his former foxy smile returned, covering his true face.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan, I'm quite fine." Naruto moved up closer to her. "What makes you think I'm troubled, anyway?" he let out a hoarse smile as she bowed down her head.

"I thought that it would be good to know the true feelings of the man which held my heart before it went waste. I've seen you too many times to separate your face from your masks, Naruto-kun." Hinata looked solemn as Naruto was passed down by another wave of unexpectancy.

Suddenly, there was a feeling of heat raised in Naruto's stomach. The feeling of being cared, and the need to show thy truthful face seemed an idea appealing like none other before. His mind passed between his close-to-ending crush, Sakura; and the newly found affection against Hinata, which he couldn't quite put the name into. "What is this feeling...caring? Affection, or affliction? More importantly, why do I want more of it?" he thought immensely as he doubled the masks to not worry Hinata, and gave a sheer laugh, if only for not worrying the girl who was worried enough for the exams up close.

"And here I thought that I would be worried about you, Hinata-chan" Naruto smiled geniunely. "I'm a bit worried as everyone else, but I'm confident that I'll pass this exam; it's another milestone to become Hokage, after all!" Naruto shouted a bit, seeing the developing confidence and certainty in Hinata's beautiful lavender eyes, which made him feel...drowsy? He felt accomplished at stopping her worries.

"...is he always like that, shouting to become Hokage?" Kaidamaru sweat-dropped as everyone else, getting a weary nod from Sasuke. "Isn't that just illegal, Ino-chan? Ino-chan?..." Kaidamaru, with a twist of his feet, almost tripped over before he found a support...

Only that support was Ino's B-cup breasts...and guess the rest...

1..

2..

3..

"You pervert, you!" Ino punched Kaidamaru in the face as the Rookies laughed at their antics. The walk went by with Kaidamaru losing a teeth or two, and the gennin getting a ringing ear for being affiliated with Naruto's incurably loud voice, when at last the gate, along with the teachers waiting for the start of the exams, showed at their very eyes, like a magnamious monument.

8:AM

Konoha Main Gate

"Ah, where is Anko-sensei?" Kaidamaru questioned in mild surprise, curiously casting a quick expression over his shoulder while "scanning" the area around the main gate for the...kinky young woman who was always existent when least needed.

Oddly enough though, there was absolutely no sign of the elder jounin and the Hokage anywhere, raising the Konoha rookies' curiosity to an imaginable degree considering the fact that the exam was about to start – the nervousness never stopping as it is.

Turning his gaze back to the front, Naruto couldn't help but notice the drastic change in the genins' attitude today. Usually, Kiba and Shino were in an arguement about whether the bugs or the dogs were cooler while Ino and Sakura radiating drastic auras of danger whenever any fangirl dared to look at the prized Uchiha prodigy. However, today, neither the fangirls were existent, nor the brash attitudes the rookies held. Only Sasuke, Shikamaru and Kaidamaru seemed normal, and that was due to their naturally inquisitive aura.

Kaidamaru appeared to be extremely jovial. Ah! He even went on a conversation with Shikamaru about the gnostic Shoji tactics and another new game in rise that was called "Go". Sasuke stood atop a tree branch, eyeing his comrades and rivals in question as he contemplated the possible events in the following hours, making an observation to his own rights.

Naruto, in his stead, held his fists in a knuckle and looked at Hinata's behaviour in later. Chouji was conversating with her about the proper cooking materials needed for another newly rising food recipe, making Naruto wonder in shudder as he couldn't think about what Chouji was really intending to do? "What does he want with her? It can't be just about food can it be? Why is she smiling to him like that? Wait, what? When did I become so inquisitive about her? And why can't I seem to get her out of my head?" Naruto clutched his head in confusion, almost making a sally forth against their conversation, before the jounin and the Hokage were spotted on an alleyway.

"What could have possibly transpired at the mindhold of the genin?" the jounin raised the question in coordination, as the elder shinobi observed the initial reaction of the children who were about to get their innocence lost. The entire operation was too delicate, and they couldn't risk the fact that some of them could in all, quit the path of the shinobi; which in reality would be a total waste for the future heirs of the respective clans.

"Naruto had managed to persuade Hinata to attend the exam today…" Kakashi began in a silent tone, trailing off as his mind began to wander back to Naruto's strange attitude this early morning. It really was peculiar. The day had started off as any other morning, and then Naruto and Hinata met at the stand first. Hinata had clung to Naruto's every word like another fangirl at first, while Naruto refused to see Hinata looking at him like that. Then the couple started talking about the daily facts, never for once opening up the examination as a topic of conversation.

After a good ten minutes of Naruto and Hinata eating in silence, Hinata had finally snapped, catching Naruto's arms and not letting go, her body trembling in its own way. Naruto's eyes, by their sheer force, stopped Hinata from trembling, and then, something strange happened. Hinata then returned to her seat with a geniune smile on her face, which was shining (strangely) and the duo spoke in a rather happy way. Then, Kaidamaru and Shikamaru showed up, with Kaidamaru's cryptic teasing and Shikamaru's troubling eased aura softening the genin that came in later.

Hokage had managed to keep the civilian council under control for good advice and their inability to meddle with the shinobi matters, but that would continue only so much. The old God of Shinobi felt his once-unreachable powers diminishing under his very bones as even his powers of coercion and persuasion started to vanish. He thought that, if Jiraiya hadn't crippled Orochimaru in their last fight, he wouldn't have stood a chance with his old student if they were to ever meet.

Oddly enough, the genin were acting quite normally even when the Hokage and his entourage came closer. Kurenai had a nagging feeling that Hinata's heart and her feelings were shoved away in a random closet somewhere in her mindscape, and without Naruto's existence (if she were to make her first kill), there was no way Hinata would survive the ordeal in mentality. Anko, meanwhile, after letting the foster-child of the Nara off the hook so easily in his survival exam, felt that Kaidamaru was yet to grasp the true complexion of being a shinobi. Casting a brief glance in Kaidamaru's direction, Anko's thoughts were confirmed when the blind boy caught Anko's gaze and sent her a cocky smirk.

Kakashi was apparently enjoying his "Sarcasm-free" team this morning (as if their constant silence wasn't proof enough). He chuckled happily, sending his team a wave on hand while his eye-smile increased in size. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but shiver in fright on their own account to Kakashi's unusually cheerful demeanor. "Two can play this game" the duo thought as they chuckled in nervousness at their sensei's mockering cheeriness. Honestly, did trying to get prepared for the exam wasn't good enough for an impression, a good one?

Kakashi observed the duo's carefree nature, curiously pondering over the possibilities to their chance of losing. He felt rather distressed at the simple thought at dumping two of the most promising students of this year. But then he quickly discarded the possibility, knowing that the duo's "personal experience in life" would put them above so many others in line.

As Asuma and Kurenai were conversing with their respective teams, they couldn't help but sense the solemnity in their souls, nearly performing a tragedical theatre at the mere thought of such an exam. The kids couldn't know the true reason of the exam, now could they? They were only taught to destroy a bandit camp, while using their respective team skills and increasing the coordination with different teams. That couldn't possibly be the reason...could it?

Hokage released a puff of smoke from his pipe, and started speaking:

"Thank you all for coming, my dear genin. I'm happy to see my orders being done in swift motion, and I am thankful for it." he gave a comforting smile to the nervous genin as he spoke.

Bringing his right hand up to his hat, Hokage continued speaking:

"I've addressed your mission in a rather examinal situation, you see. It has come to my attention that, most of our genin were able to pass their survival exams barely, hence the reason for this mission. This will be a possibility for you to survive against opponents in your caliber, and as well as increase your teamwork, which was the main objective in the beginning."

"The matter at hand needed no more time and consideration before the bandits could get a hold over our land. I tried to come to terms with their resolve, which ultimately failed. While you will be attending to your mission, your senseis" he gestured at Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai and Anko "will simply just observe the happenings surrounding you and your teams due to the requirement of this year's procedure." Anko smirked at the newly found rule. After all, she had vowed to break the cockiness of her student, no matter what.

Allowing his radiant brown eyes to sweep over in the genin's direction, Sarutobi found himself smiling fondly at their resolved form. Yes…the genin would definitely succeed – no matter what.

"Ne, Kai-chan," Anko called Kaidamaru's name, instantly capturing him in a headlock, almost tripping the blindfolded youth. The violet-haired Special Jounin couldn't help but grin when he noticed the fear in Kaidamaru's expression, locked on her form. Allowing a small chuckle to leave her lips, Anko felt her heart almost shivering in anticipation to be proud of her student. Completely blowing off Kaidamaru's cries of help and nagging about "troublesome women", while leisurely enjoying the soft bosom of the violet-haired vixen, and thus earning the jealous looks of Sarutobi and Kakashi from aside, Anko brought her mouth close to Kaidamaru's head, to whisper the hint that had been lingering in her mind.

"This may not mean much, but you must look underneath the underneath, alright? And by underneath, I mean six feet under." Anko finished whispering, her serious expression turning into a shit eating grin while shaming the white-haired genin about telling their "intoxicating" relationship to the other teams, earning several blushes from boys and girls alike, while earning one Specialized Hyuuga Death Glare (TM) from a certain lavender-eyed beauty, which Anko noted in sheer victory.

"Someone might as well have mentioned that a member of yours had died off " Sasuke noted in bewilderment after seeing Kaidamaru being molested to death, him earning mortified looks from both Naruto and Sasuke while Kakashi was laughing. It was then a cloud of despair had begun to form over the Team 7's head, causing Kakashi to arch a brow at the dramatic turn their attitudes had instantly taken the moment the subject at hand had been brought up.

"Honestly… you three don't think you couldn't manage it, do you?" Kakashi sighed in slight dissappointment, as he continued speaking.

"I'll completely forget the examinator's rules now, and tell you something." Naruto groaned pathetically as the trio put their heads closer to hear whatever kinds of bullshit the one-eyed jounin was about to tell, while Sakura released an annoyed grunt at the mere thought of her teacher's prospective declaration when he announced his inept jokes about the road of life or something.

"It is no secret, really – the fact that you kids simply sucked at being a team. Normally I wouldn't give a damn, after all, this is my first genin team ever. But there are some subjects people excel in, and others they fail in – and you, my dear students, fail in the failing category for guts. Your resolve to accomplish a mission, and your resolve to be a Konoha shinobi, no less, will carry you and your wills to a height I believe to be greater then even the Sannin. However, the exam and its main priority is hidden underneath the underneath, so make it your main priority to grasp it. I wish you luck, my dear Team 7, and I give my congratulations for your first real-life mission."

This was more than a mere moment of private humiliation for Team 7 and their sensei, as Kakashi, not in this lifetime, would ever speak something that dramatic. The genin were shocked and touched beyond comparison. They all had stars in their eyes (except for Sasuke, who simply smirked with a resolved look), and nodded at their sensei with idiotic smiles and thanks in blubbering.

"Yare yare…we should've just feigned illness today, Kaidamaru" Shikamaru whined, grasping his head with both hands as Asuma left after wishing their team good luck and giving them some pointers as to how to pass the exam, while not spilling the main reason of the exams. Anime tears streamed down Kaidamaru's face at the mere thought of the horrors that Anko had just put him through.

"I'd rather learn whatever I can, instead running away from a good challenge, nii-san and taking some good constructive criticism...ahh yes, that'd be the life" Kaidamaru looked almost ecstatic, earning a rather narrowed sigh from Shikamaru in reply which ended up the conversation the genin were having in a time soon.

Sarutobi tried to lighten up the timid spirits that had apparently befallen over your group. "Don't worry, everyone, I'm sure you'll give it your best."

"Ah, Hokage-sama, shall we begin the exam then?" Kakashi was putting away his dearest book in everyone's suprise, getting ready for the mission ahead. "We might as well get this over with, ne, teme?" Naruto smirked at Sasuke, who grumbled bitterly in answer.

Sarutobi blinked owlishly, then started talking "'This mission isn't a trial – it's merely a window. I know that it seems irrational, but it cannot be expressed in any other way. In constanity, we have gone through it too. It is, given by the circumstances, a trial by fire, divided into the core of our philosophy..." the aged-man trailed off, feeling his eyes trailing away to the anxious eyes of the younger generation. Releasing a hearty sigh, Sarutobi took off the hat from his head, and in an instant, put it on his chest, bowing slightly, shocking the genin.

Allowing the confused expression to slowly nest, Sarutobi's lips curled into a warm smile as the genin were truly off the basic understandement now. "I salute you, for the future, for the village and for the will of fire!" Sarutobi gave a meaningful look at the jounin, signaling them to hit the road. As the jounin were out of sight in a basic shunshin, Sarutobi gave out the order to change the very lives of the newest generation of genin.

"The exam begins...NOW!" And the teams were off to their destinies, each to their own respective account...

* * *

Mitarashi Anko bashfully adjusted her trench coat, feeling her blush darken when Kaidamaru flashed him one of his brilliant smiles. Why, oh why did she find it amusing to be flustered so? Unlike her usual rowdy attitude, Anko found herself unable to try and hide her interest in Kaidamaru. Tightening her fists, Anko released a weary sigh.

"To be perfectly honest…I'm really glad to be your sensei Kaidamaru" her tone cast a serious expression that quirked an eyebrow from Kaidamaru "Your explanation of quality time is far more different than any other genin that none but you could handle." Anko had grown impatient of having to cling to Kurenai as her only friend.

Furrowing his brows in thought, Kaidamaru cast a brief glance in Anko's and Team 7's direction behind. Both the sensei and the student seemed morbid to actually open up a serious conversation when it came to the loneliness the duo suffered in their life, causing them both to chuckle at the mere thought. It was then an imaginary light bulb seemed to go off in Kaidamaru's mind. Yes! This could possibly work out…

"Ne, Kakashi-dono, Naruto-san," white-headed genin piped up, instantly gaining both Kakashi's and Naruto's attention, along with Sasuke's glare for being ignored. "How about we have a quick bonding moment right now? We can recite the Pledge of Fire so that our wills would be even more greater than before!" Comedical thumps could be heard from the team...how could a guy tell such a dramatic thing with such initiality?

Kakashi and Naruto blinked owlishly for a moment before keeling over and then regaining their composure. Directing their attention to Kakashi's solemn face, team 7 and the special genin team recited the words of binding:

_From the flames we came,_

_And the flames where we were,_

_To the flames we went,_

_Until our lives were spent_

_Until the dying will,_

_We shall, everlasting, live!_

Another moment of silence for a silent pledge.

"Well, it wasn't a bad thought, right? After all, you both probably posess the will more than we might actually do, Kakashi." Anko smirked at the lazy jounin, who simply gave an eye-smile

"You think too much of me, Anko-san. I daresay that you posess the same will as I do. But anyway, shall we continue?" Anko nodded at the request, and the teams continued their way.

* * *

"...so what harm could come from one day of shopping with your good friend Ino, Hinata-chan?"

Yamanaka Ino did have a knack for easily laying out the traps in such a social manner that Hinata would almost fall for it if she didn't have more...shinobi-like work to do. While Ino could even, in future, rise to become the greatest interrogator ninja in the future, her infatuation with fangirl-ness send her dad and her clan to unimaginable sorrows. Sending a bright smile to Ino, Hinata replied.

"I'm really sorry, Ino-san, but I have farther training to do with my otou-san." Hinata chirped sadly. "But maybe you'd like to come and watch us if you please?" Hinata asked in anticipation.

Ino nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, I guess that'd do too. I'm curious about your techniques, and I'm sure I can learn a thing or two from you." well, at least Ino admitted her inability in being a shinobi with that choice of words.

"R-right! I'll do my best," Hinata replied with a smile, her cheeks heating up with warmth at the thought of being able to actually spend some time with someone else than her family.

Asuma and Kurenai observed the energetic conversation between the duo in silence, their steely gaze causally taking in each other. Clearly Hinata had a higher stature than Ino, more so than they had originally thought. It was obvious that Hinata seemed to have a special, if not unnerving connection with herself and her family…something that appeared to have been developed at a younger age and successfully continued to progress as years went on.

Shino allowed his insightful gaze to linger on his brash friend Kiba for a moment, merely observing on in mild interest with how the dogman had managed to weasel such a cocky attitude in his life. Even after both of them were involved in Team 8, Kiba had continued to remain like the way he was, unexpectedly dissappointing his family and his friends. After all, being a ninja meant more seriousness when it came to a showdown. Shino mused silently to himself with a smirk (A/N O.o? WTF?), this entire ordeal was just another game to him – a game he was anxious to unfold for one.

The smirk that had managed to worm its way onto Shikamaru's face instantly faded, his look of thoughtfulness easily being replaced by a nonchalant expression when the teams had finally managed to meet at the meeting point for the start of operations. An odd civilian girl slowly (and clumsily) made her way towards Kakashi as the two of them begun speaking. The brunette's balance continued to waver, nearly stumbling off form the straight earth she was trying so hard to remain atop of as she carefully made her way over to the village, earning herself some rather odd stares from the teams. The young woman didn't seem to take in any of the incredulous expressions; instead, she remained in a rather shocked expression, a posture similar of a prisoner of war. Shikamaru and Kaidamaru briefly exchanged quizzical glances with one another, wondering what was the talk and the attitude of the girl about…then again…the entire ordeal was a mystery to both of them.

"Alright everyone!" the cyclops-eyed jounin started talking, an eye-smile flashing in the teams' direction the moment they had all gathered. 24 pair of eyes scanned Kakashi's steady form, instantly taking notice of the importance of the mission at hand, while standing perfectly erect in order to be ready for orders.

"From here we shall separate." Kakashi started explaining the respective orders of each team, in order. The genin blinked in readiness.

"Team 7, consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, shall be prioritized with dealing the main fire and manpower to the bandit camps. Their stance is hereby changed onto collateral damage validated." Kakashi said, his eyes trailing off onto the genin, who were nodding in anticipation, with Sasuke simply smirking in order.

"Team 8, consisting of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, shall be prioritized to engage in the defensive sturcture of the main engagement. Their stance is hereby changed onto damage tanking validated." Kakashi said, simply continuing to read, while the genin accepted their role in silence, except for Kiba, who was trying to argue with Kakashi to change his role into attacking, as defending wasn't his bravado...the key-word being trying...

"Team 10, consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, shall be prioritized to the support defense initializing. Their stance is hereby changed into higher-echelon point striking validated." Kakashi said, while the genin simply accepted their role, with Shikamaru nagging about troublesomeness, Ino trying to bash his head for being a lazy bum, and Chouji simply nodding as he ate his bag of chips as if nothing's changed.

"And lastly, the Special Genin Team consisting of Nara Kaidamaru, you shall be prioritized to the area-of-effect offensive. Your stance will be the mass-illusion art support system validated." Kakashi finished, earning a silent od from Kaidamaru, who held his head low in resolution.

"That is all, everyone...let us do our best!" Kakashi shouted, getting a loud "Hai!" from the young shinobi, and sending them to their destinies.

* * *

"It's them! The Konoha Shinobi are attacking!" it was a bit late for the bandits' acknowledgement of the konoha 12, their eyes twitching in hatred and fear. The Bandit Leader, one known as Junsui, blinked owlishly, wondering how on earth the genin could possibly manage to find their hideout, yet alone go through their men, like reapers in a field of wheat. Bandits exchanged knowing glances, while screaming hell and trying to retaliate the genin's attack.

"Eh? You guys really think you can beat us?" A bandit questioned curiously, his mocking grin turning onto his comrades, waving his right hand in a small gesture towards the genin who were completely in their serious mode at the moment.

Sasuke nodded his head to confirm the bandits' question. "Indeed. You're the weird trash that we need to eliminate." he informed the comrades around him, earning a look of 'are-you-serious' from weaker genin like Ino, Choji, Kiba and Sakura in reply.

Chuckling softly at Sasuke's distraught response after the genin had learned that they needed to actually "kill" their enemies, the Bandit leader was now being somewhat even more comfortable with the situation at hand. Just so he could possibly catch a glimpse of the genin, he gave a small shake of his head, implying their folly at the ambush, allowing his men to encircle through the genin in a slightly exasperated gesture.

"Well, so much for an ambush in the morning, ne?" Kaidamaru almost sweat dropped at the situation, considering the fact that they have become the ones who were ambushed.

"My name is Akari Junsui," the bulky middle-aged man bluntly introduced himself, despite the fact that the genin were already extremely wary of his strange actions. This meant that he now felt inclined to invite the genin to join his side? The main part of diplomatics before a fight was either trying to make the oppostie side surrender, or in more wrathful cases (like this one), trying to make them join you so they couldn't leak information to their superiors.

Hinata, Ino and Sakura shuddered at the mere sight of the bulky, scarred man, while Naruto shot a slightly aggravated look in Junsui's direction. He wasn't at all pleased with the possibility of having to pledge his time to the bandits with some needless conversation – they, their team had managed to work their way to here on their own, and now this?

Sasuke remained impassive to Junsui's needless advances. "I know. You've caused us and our village a lot of trouble, and during the morning time, no less...we had to sacrifice our precious sleeptime to actually eliminate the likes of you sycophants!" Sasuke gave a seething answer as the leader gave a low chuckle.

Sakura's face immediately lit up, a blush spreading across her face in a rapid manner as her eyes sparkled brightly at the Uchiha prodigy of her team. _"Sasuke-kun is so professional!"_ she thought.

"What is it today?" Junsui posed his question, intent on sending the young genin on their way so that he could continue his plans regarding a raid to a nearby village, as he tried manage to fend off the Konoha representatives with enough ease. "What does mere children know of what we do? We're simply ensuring the security of the Land of Fire in...freelance missions." the bandits laughed as Junsui looked rather fed up with them.

A look of surprise splashed across Naruto's face due to Junsui's blunt statement, however, that expression quickly faded to an unbridled state of anger. Hastily lowering his head so that he was eye-to-eye with Junsui, Naruto clasped his fists together, his eyes locked on the middle-aged brute in front of him.

"Freelance missions?...Protection? Don't Fuck With Me!" Naruto shouted, flabbergasting the genin and the bandits both, while Junsui only gave away a simple "Oh?".

"You guys and your kind...they don't know the meaning of protection to begin with!" Naruto was practically seething at the man's mocking grin before him "You have been pillaging villages, killing off people as you damn please, raping the innocent women right in front of their eyes, and burning their livelihoods! Do you think we'd ever forgive such an action?" Naruto's teeh gritted so much that it made noises, while the gennin behind him nodded in silence, each having their own thoughts.

"I swear to you, as long as you and your kind continue to act like this, there will be no mercy! I've always thought that it would have been hard for me to actually kill someone, but now, I have no doubts! Because I'm content with wiping the face of the earth from people who are _lower than scum!_" he shouted out as he took out a kunai, while his hands arched to his trademark handsign, ready to engage in combat. The genin behind him did the same, each readying themselves in combat engagement.

_"That's right Naruto-san...show these people the glimpse of light they need so much!" _Kaidamaru thought in delight as he drew his Ninjato, getting in a combat stance "I agree with you, Naruto-san. Let the battle be joined!" he loudly declared in a challenging stance.

_"That's why I've always loved you, Naruto-kun..." _Hinata's red face turned into a serious composure as her eye-veins sticked out, revealing her Byakugan and her Juuken stance "We're with you, Naruto-kun!" she told Naruto to receive a thankful nod, only to return it back.

"This is too troublesome, but I agree...let's finish this." Shikamaru told as he and his team got into their trademark Ino-Shika-Chou formation.

"Oi! Don't forget about us too!" Kiba and Shino got into their respective clan stances.

"Sure," Junsui replied, remaining completely aloof during this whole ordeal. By merely relaying their answers, he saw their real mission, to eliminate themselves. That's how the Hokage should've planned it, anyways. His steely gaze watched the young genin, as he cracked his fist into the air, and drew a Naginata. Junsui arched a brow, was it actually a little too much against these kids?

The bandit leader silently agreed that 'whatever', this was alright, considering the fact that simple genin were in equal fighting power with a bandit.

"Let us begin, then, gaki-tachi*!" The bandits attacked, screaming in order to stupify the genin into stunning, which didn't work.

"Ack~!" about 50 bandits were instantly sprung into action, racing over to try and kill the genin before they were, in each body contact, wiped off from the face of the earth in bloody forms . It would almost seem as though the genins' good deed was not enough, considering the fact that Junsui twisted his body in midair so that he would be able to get away safely on land , completely unharmed. This unforeseen action had caused Kaidamaru and Naruto, along with his Shadow clones to perform high tackles on the man, while the bandits below were totally wiped out one by one by the genin. Concern, however, was clearly seen on the genins' eyes.

Hinata's face paled, her eyes twitching in fear and shock as she watched one of the bandits scream loudly in death, his body covered in blood. Her feelings were in turmoil as the full power of Hokage's words hit her "_Not for the faint of heart_..." she thought, as the battles continued around them, with bandits falling one by one, along with the genins going in shock one by one. She felt...drained. Her muscles not being able to hold her intact anymore, she fell down on her knees, and tears started to threaten to come out of her eyes.

Almost every genin were suffering the same conditions. Sakura was simply broken down in crying, as she was held by a strangely open-minded Sasuke. He knew what she suffered through, and was thankful that she didn't turn out to simply accept its facts. His understandement was mast helpful on the pink-headed kunoichi as she stopped crying, and in solemntiy, thanked Sasuke, who in reply nodded in silence.

Ino, on the other hand, was silent in her shock. She knew, from her family, that such facts were in the life of the shinobi...but was it really worth it? The dilemma of the shinobi...and the will to live and die was about to take its toll on the young kunoichi's head to almost making her give up, until she felt a big, plump hand on her shoulder. It was Chouji's. He looked rather distressed.

"Calm down, Ino-chan. It's going to be okay...we'll help you..._I'll help you_" Chouji thought silently as Ino's tearful eyes looked deep into Chouji's.

"Chouji...thank you. Let's continue..." Ino told as she held her kunai with less-shaking hands. She'd accomplish the task. Even if she didn't like it, her friends were there to make it easy on her, so there was no problem.

Kiba and Shino looked at each other on the ongoing scene. Whatever brashness Kiba hold before the mission was goine amidst the reality of a shinobi's life. The fight - no, the _massacre_ went on as last of the bandits were scrying away, trying to make a run for it, and turning into crisp thanks to Sasuke's Fire Jutsu's. Shino, on the other hand, while not betraying any emotions like he did, his colony was in a huge turmoil as bugs buzzed around his body in chaos, showing Shino's inner turmoil.

"...another weirdo has made himself known. Great. This is just what we needed in this mission, ne, Naruto-san?" Kaidamaru released a solemn expression, dropping his head down at the sight of the battle. Junsui showed to have a real freakshow of a body, muscles springing out of eveywhere, going along with matching scars that were intimidating.

"...I get it now." Naruto stood up from kneeling, his cerulean-blue eyes holding a fire that matched his will. "It was never about surviving in this mere life, doing whatever it takes...it was actual living, with real happiness, with friends..." Naruto started blubbering in an eerie tone, which startled Kaidamaru. This was not likely of the orange-clad ninja, who was always full of happiness.

"It was the will to grasp it...will to live and die." Naruto's eyes trailed out to Hinata, who was cornered by five bandits at the moment, who caught her defenseless, due to her exhaustion, while they were escaping.

The mere visual rumbled something deep within Naruto. It was not the Kyuubi as he learned from Mizuki, but it was something more...warm. Not like the usual rage which burned his veins in pain while he got extremely angry; this was like an inner fire, an instinct...

...it was the will to live, and will to protect. It was the will of fire.

"Kaidamaru" he voiced at Kaidamaru who got up from kneeling, his eyebrows in clash as he turned to Naruto. "Take care of the leader. I'm going to protect Hinata." Naruto's voice came out from his inner fire, giving him a more warm and dangerous edge.

"Righteous, Naruto-san! Just og and protect your..." Naruto had already went off as Kaidamaru gave a low sigh "girl...alright, and here we are now, Nottori-san*". Kaidamaru smiled at the bandit leader who simply smirked at the white-headed ninja.

"Why oh why must it be this way? Was it seriously too much to ask for just ONE peaceful morning without having some kind of weird interruption? Ugh…that was probably asking for too much, considering the fact that you kids seemed intent on turning our lives upsides down. So not good." Junsui voiced in complaint.

"Oh? Do tell what you need to, you have an appointment with the back of my Ninjato, you know." Kaidamaru smirked on his own account as the smirk on Junsui's face dropped.

_"I can't convert him with the state he is now." _Junsui thought begrudgingly to himself, dusting the dirt off of his attire after another pair of bandits died loudly behind Kaidamaru.

Junsui nervously stretched, eyeing Kaidamaru with a bashful expression.

"It might be a little fast, gaki, but can I squeeze you like this?" Junsui questioned, then proceeded to a Doton handsign before crying out loud:

**"Doton! Dorkeimusho! (Earth Release: Earth Prison)"** four walls of earth had encased Kaidamaru's body, while squeezing every single life out of him, until he exploded in a rain of blood.

Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata watched on with disturbed expressions etched on their faces as Kaidamaru screamed loudly. After saving Hinata and receiving a thank-you kiss on the cheek from her(A/N: Wait, WHAT? AGAIN?), Naruto was about to go to saving Kaidamaru before this happened. And Sasuke felt sad to see a man eager to test his patience amidst of people who practically worshipped him, squeezed to death.

"Tche...troublesome, Kaaaidaa..." Shikamaru stretched naturally, earning glares from the genin around before he looked at him with one eye, saying "What? He's alive, he won't leave this world without making us suffer enough, that dramatic bastard..." Shikamaru commented blankly, earning a few sweat drops and a loud chuckle from...everywhere?

"Nii-san, you spoilsport! I was actually studying their faces to learn what they thought of me!" A simple flickering beam of light before Junsui's eyes showed him a perfectly unhurt Kaidamaru, who was, at all the time, hiding behind a genjutsu.

"But then again, I guess I'll show my worth by this fight of mine!" Kaidamaru draw his Ninjato and pointed it to Junsui, his cocky smirk never leaving his face.

"What the hell?" Junsui was beyond words. Seriously, this was just beyond weird. A second ago, that kid was dead, and now?

He hastily took a step back to distance himself from this odd boy. Bandits immediately followed suit, not wanting to be there – and run off entirely.

"I'd like from all of you to bear witness," Kaidamaru said loudly to gather the genins' attention "to this fight. Know that it is not a mere sword, or the elements of the world that which is the most powerful weapon..." Kaidamaru trailed off as a blue aura shot off from his eyes to the sky, signaling his jutsu handling.

"... it is the elements of a man's will." Kaidamaru suddenly had a serpentine claw replaced with his empty hand, which stretched out in fair quickness and held the veteran bandit's bulky form and drew it near himself as he whispered.

**"Magen: Dakou Tsume no Jutsu wa Seikou desu"**** Junsui had an expression of pure terror when he looked at the blindfolded genin. Once powerless-looking kid, and now his life was forfeit because of him.

Sasuke frowned, not at all pleased with how Junsui was currently being scared shitless. Lifting his right hand up to raise his kunai, he was silently stopped by Shikamaru, which suprised the Uchiha, since they've never conversated in detail before.

"Don't interrupt my brother's handiwork," Shikamaru snapped irritably, his expression holding a façade of a warning, instead of a threat. "Or you'd be in danger too...that jutsu of his, it's not complete yet." Shikamaru shocked the genin around him.

Shikamaru's snarky response left Sasuke dumbfounded, causing Naruto and other genin's eyes bulge out in suprise. Such a powerful jutsu, and it wasn't complete yet?

"That boy...does he honestly have any idea how dangerous it is for him to try and execute that jutsu? What is he planning to accomplish?" Ino shouted in irritation at the blind genin's handiwork as he was now face to face with Junsui.

The looks Kaidamaru had to endure from the genin after they saw that jutsu of his...well, let's just say it drove him mad. Really mad.

"Wha...what are you?" Junsui screamed out in terror, as Kaidamaru looked at him nonchalantly. "Are you a devil? A beast? What are YOU?" The man was hysteric now, before Kaidamaru simply tilted his head sideways.

"Me? I'm but a blind genin...I have a wonderful family of mere children, who refuse to accept the reality of this life, and I'm a man reborn." Kaidamaru's voice tone increased to a point that he was almost screaming, as he leaned to the man's ear and said:

"Sayonara..."

...THUMP!...

The man's head was lobbed off, blood spraying onto the white hair of the blind genin, almost soaking it in red, and giving a very scary look over him, who simply turned with his expression angry.

"Hey everyone...what's wrong? I did it. Shouldn't you be happy? I've saved your hands getting soiled." Kaidamaru began in an irritated tone, turning his full attention to the pineapple-headed genin that was his brother.

The Genin were about to join Kaidamaru's agreement, but instantly rejected that opinion when Naruto's eyes flashed angrily, retracting his right arm in a swift motion. He wasn't going to do what everyone would if he wouldn't have interfered.

Shikamaru's thoughts were ablaze when Naruto simply "che"'d in a disappointed manner, and started leaving the battlefiled, Sasuke and Sakura joining in later on. Kaidamaru looked down as he questioned:

"Why are you going, Naruto-san? Am I too good for you? Is being a shinobi too good for you?" Kaidamaru shouted in what he begun with a whisper, his face showing rage against the blond ninja.

"No, Kaida. It is you who isn't good enough for a shinobi." Naruto silently replied as Hinata approached Kaidamaru.

"You must calm down, Kaidamaru-kun...we understand you, and your actions, but you..." Hinata was cut off as Kaidamaru shouted.

"You DON'T understand me, Hinata-chan! I've accepted this resolve! I've accepted the will to die for my village, and the will to kill for it! I've since that fateful time, but why didn't you? Why won't you?" Kaidamaru was starting to blubber before Shikamaru held Kaidamaru's shoulders in a warm sensation.

"Nii-san..." Kaidamaru stood in silent suprise as Shikamaru held him in resolve.

"Calm down, Kaida...it's not the will to die that was asked from us, not the will to die which you spend your entire life blindfolded to a certain purpose, which would make you what our father warned you to not become." Kaidamaru's memories trailed off to his foster father's words this morning. The dirty bandage around his eyes threatened to go red from the blood that'd shed form his empty eye-sockets.

Suddenly, Naruto turned around to Kaidamaru's fragile form, and held his hands in a resolute manner.

"It is the will to live, which allows us to fight and survive for those we care about, and to spend as much happy moments as we want with them, Kaidamaru" Naruto gave his trademark foxy grin as Kaidamaru's voice became hoarse from over-emotional build up.

"That's wrong Naruto-san...that must be wrong...the man who plucked out my eyes must've thought it was wrong, and so must've my brother..." Kaidamaru's face was covered in blood shedding from his eye-sockets as he started to cry silently.

And then, it was Hinata which offered him the thing he needed the most: Resolution to arise from a broken dream.

"What are you doing, Hinata-chan?" Kaidamaru asked in a silent tone, suprised that Hinata held him in a hug.

"Kaidamaru-kun...don't let your heart go waste...let us walk together, and let us hold you heart. We're friends, aren't we?" Hinata's gentle tone inflicted the deepest wound one could imagine in their soul.

"Yeah, Kaida-chan, don't be unhappy, we're here to help you always!" Ino blurted out wth a faint blush on her cheeks as other genin rised their tones in agreement.

"Of course man! Aren't we, Akamaru boy?"

"Woof!"

"That logic of yours is most correct, Hinata-chan"

"We are with you, Kaidamaru-san!"

"Come on brother...you are better than that, don't lose yourself!"

"Kaidamaru-kun..."

And then, Kaidamaru, losing his control, weeped uncontrollably, releasing himself to the petite figure of the Hyuuga heiress, indulging and basking in her scent and embrace, if even for a moment. He swore to himself that, he'd live to make the next day a better day for her happiness...if even to sense her smile, and warm aura for the tiniest part, he'd live to please her as she wanted.

The sun never felt any warmer on Kaidamaru's skin than that day.

* * *

"What are you thinking Hokage-sama?" Kakashi looked with his one eye at the aged leader, with an inquiring look "Do you think they qualify?" he asked with a small sensation of pride at Naruto's declaration and pride, along with a small tingling of amusement as his face went red with jealousy as Kaidamaru hugged Hinata with an even greater resolve as he cried his heart out.

"I'm thinking..." Hokage turned his face, a proud smile on his face as he puffed another blow of smoke from his pipe, "that the Will of Fire has never burned any brighter before!" he released a loud laugh as the jounin senseis gave each other their respective smiles.

"Yes...the trial is accomplished, with a success that has never been seen before. The Will to Live shall go on, carried from one generation to another..."

"...for that is the will of Fire." Kakashi thought in silence as his thoughts were diverged in his fallen comrades' memories, shownig him that whatever happens, an even brighter day will come.

* * *

**Yes! Like Hell Yeah!**

**...ahem, anyway...**

**Sorry for my former reaction, but I'm so happy that I managed to finish this chapter at last! You can't even begin to imagine how long it took me to write this!**

**Of course, I'm always open to other reviews you'd like to submit per se. I'm really glad about how the story is going on right now, and I can guarantee that it'll get even better!**

**I hope you were happy about the dilemma of living to live or living to survive. Those things and their separation, after all, is what we know as the duality of good and evil. But then again, you can't simply separate good and evil into two exact spheres of influence.**

**Anyhow, I'm not going to spout philosophical nonsense - that's stuff for the story itself. And with this mission-miniarc ending, I can focus on a greater sphere of storyline in the following days. Thanks for being so considerate to read my humble story! You guys are really awesome!**

**Until then, The Enlighthened Florist (yeah, with an extra "h"!), signing off,**

**Oromarth123**

**...**

**...**

***Bandit**

**** Demonic Art: Serpentine Claws Technique, success  
**


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